Teachers Undertake Year-Long Leadership Course to Impact Students Across DPS

In the past, the typical avenue for professional advancement for classroom teachers was to become a school leader as an assistant principal or principal. Through Teacher Leadership & Collaboration (TLC), teachers have been able to take on a leadership role while staying in the classroom with their kids half time and coaching their fellow teachers the other half. Now, through the Thrive Fellowship, teacher leaders can take on a year-long leadership program to make their impact on DPS even bigger.

DPS has selected 20 top teachers to embark on a leadership journey that is launching for the first time in the district. Thrive is an effort that allows DPS’ strongest teacher leaders to collaborate, learn from one another and provide insight to district leaders in order to extend the impact of teacher leadership.

On Monday, June 11, fellows met with Board of Education President Anne Rowe, Superintendent Tom Boasberg, Deputy Superintendent Susana Cordova and Chief Human Resource Officer Debbie Hearty.

“Our mission is to be powerful forces of change, to offer educational opportunities to our kids that are better than they have historically been,” said Superintendent Boasberg. “Thrive will allow you, as teacher leaders, to look into how we develop as a team, as individuals, and how we drive the kinds of changes for our kids and in our communities that we’re all here for.”

“We have seen higher levels of retention for teacher leaders, the teachers they support and the kids in their classrooms,” said Chief Human Resource Officer Hearty. “Through this work, Thrive fellows can impact not only their students, but the entire district.”

The Thrive Fellowship is made possible through a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. The fellowship is a collaboration between the LEAD Team and TLC and will include monthly learning and collaborative sessions, cohort-based coaching, dialogues with senior leaders and a capstone-action research project.