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A Pathway to School Leadership

Currently, more than 275 Teach For America alumni serve as school leaders across the country. Among our most successful principals, many alumni pursued different routes to school leadership. However we have found that certain notable actions, practices, and accomplishments are common to their paths. As you consider your own road to school leadership, keep in mind the following levers that have been critical to their success.

Achieve significant gains in the classroom.

• High-quality school leaders must possess instructional expertise. Demonstrating significant student achievement against a commonly accepted metric is the most powerful way to provide evidence of this knowledge.
• Evidence of gains: External reports showing student state assessment results and gain analysis; craft internal assessment of student growth against specific state standards; create formative assessments and tracking systems to measure students progress over time; obtain National Board Certification; obtain teaching awards and recognition.

Share instructional practice with other educators.

• High-quality school leaders are responsible for communicating an instructional vision to the school's staff. As you develop expertise in specific areas (teaching particular kinds of curricula, specific content, or utilizing specialized methods), you should seek opportunities to share that expertise formally and informally with other adults.
• Opportunities to share knowledge: Serve on institute staff, as a learning team leader, or as a program director; create and present professional development materials; prepare a video of model lessons or team teaching; become a curriculum or content-area specialist at your school.

Lead and/or manage groups of adults.

• High-quality school leaders lead and manage other adults in a way that improves instruction and student performance. As you continue to grow as a professional, look for ways to lead and manage other adults in your school and in the local educational community.
• Opportunities to lead: Serve as a team leader, grade-level, or department chairperson; mentor other teachers; develop and utilize tools for observing other teachers or for monitoring instructional fidelity in classrooms at your school or in similar situations; obtain a management internship during the summer months; serve on institute staff as a school director or curriculum specialist.

Obtain appropriate credentials.

• High-quality school leaders possess the credentials required by the state, district or organization for which they are working. This almost always includes a Master's degree, and sometimes includes specific course requirements.
• Credentials to strive for: Master's degree in education, particularly in administration or school leadership; appropriate district or state credential.

Serve in a leadership growth position.

• High-quality school leaders often gain leadership experience in schools before assuming the principal role.
• Opportunities to grow within a school: Serve as an assistant principal, dean of curriculum and instruction, or content-area coach; complete a high-quality charter preparation or alternative route program like the KIPP Fisher Fellowship, the Building Excellent Schools Fellowship, or the New Leaders for New Schools Residency.