Teacher leadership is no longer optional. Its importance in student learning, teacher retention, school culture, school improvement, the crafting of sound education policy, and productive and innovative teachers’ associations has been demonstrated by both research and practice. Those who engage in teacher leadership in any capacity have seen its impacts on their students and colleagues, but the evidence goes far beyond the anecdotal.

When it comes to teacher retention, for example, both new and experienced teachers who leave the profession have indicated that they do so in part because of a lack of shared decision-making roles and opportunities to lead. Teaching has been referred to by researcher Charlotte Danielson as a “flat” profession; the dearth of roles in which teachers can grow and extend their knowledge and practices beyond the classroom—while still having the option to engage closely with student learning—can lead to dissatisfaction and flight from the profession, especially among those who crave additional intellectual and career rigor. These issues, in turn, can impact school culture negatively; high turnover rates, coupled with burnout among those teachers who do stay, make for a challenging environment in which it is diff cult for any teacher to feel supported, secure, or empowered. And, of course, all these difficulties ultimately affect student learning, as both high turnover and a school culture of uncertainty and negativity make it diff cult for teachers to provide the best learning experiences possible for the students in their classrooms.

Teacher retention is just one of the many areas in which teacher leadership can help solve the most pointed and relevant problems in education, and ultimately and most importantly, help students learn. Even without occupying formal organizational roles, teacher leaders have a profound impact on school culture and quality. And great achievements are possible when teachers have formal opportunities both inside and outside the classroom. This will transform the profession on micro and macro levels, offering more ways for teachers to grow within the profession, improving school cultures and the overall culture of education, and consequently, creating environments in which students can flourish. Other major issues with which teachers express frustration, such as not receiving appropriate time and support to do their jobs well, can be addressed when teachers take on larger roles in decision-making at many levels and engage in mindful and meaningful leadership activities within their school communities and beyond.

Importantly, however, leadership looks different for every teacher who pursues it. Teacher leaders come from all backgrounds, and with a wide variety of skill sets. They share a common desire to use those skill sets to benefit the students and improve learning. The current landscape of education requires that all these teacher leaders, across a wide spectrum of experience, and with all these skill sets, participate in the changes and transformations that are necessary. Just as excellent teachers approach their practice from an array of perspectives and with many talents, teacher leadership requires many individuals’ strengths and interests, coming together for the benefit of students and the profession.

The partners in the Teacher Leadership Initiative, comprised of the National Education Association, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and the Center for Teaching Quality, not only understand the need for teacher leadership at every school site and district in the country; they envision a powerful new model for teacher leadership that stretches beyond previously held beliefs about the collective power of educators. The Teacher Leadership Initiative model offers the professional learning, support, and experience necessary for teachers to expand their influence and offer their expertise in new, large, and innovative contexts. Teachers’ spheres of influence can tend to start out small: the classroom, some colleagues, and occasionally their administration. Through teacher leadership, as envisioned and executed in the Teacher Leadership Initiative, these spheres can expand hugely, allowing teachers to power the profession and shape the landscape. This model brings together three intertwined pathways that define the ways in which teachers can blaze new paths in education: instructional leadership, policy leadership, and association leadership.

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