August 2, 2007
‘Teacher leaders’ is aim of new program
In very real ways, graduate students Tim Harris and Marisa Gaalema are already leaders, on the job and in life. But both were looking for something more, and they say the UW College of Education’s new Master in Instructional Leadership matches their needs nicely.
Harris is a sixth-grade math teacher in the Bainbridge Island School District, but he’s been out of the classroom since 2005. A 21-year member of the Army National Guard, he spent from late 2005 until this February working with intelligence to support Coalition forces in Afghanistan, with 70 people under his supervision.
His active service done and extended education benefits available, Harris said, he started looking around online for a master’s program he could attend.
“There happened to be this link about new degrees and I clicked the link and it was amazing. It was like, ‘Wow, that is exactly what I am looking for.’ It still has the content area focus, but with the whole instructional leadership piece, too.”
Marisa Gaalema is a 12-year teaching veteran in the Highline School District whose effectiveness in the sixth-grade classroom led her to be chosen as a “teacher leader,” where, she said, “My role was to lead by example, to show, ‘Here’s what powerful instruction looks like.'”
Last year she was given the job of literacy coach, helping fellow teachers. “In Highline, they make sure there’s a literacy coach and a math coach in every building,” she said, “and my job is to lead alongside teachers and support them in improving their craft, and in literacy instruction.”
Gaalema said she came to the master’s program largely through Chrysan Gallucci, UW assistant professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and the program’s co-director, who had worked previously with her school district. “She knew I was going to be changing into a more focused, instructional leadership role” and suggested Gaalema apply.
Gaalema said some have assumed this will be a second master’s degree for her, but it’s not. Like Harris, it’s her first advanced degree. “The explanation is that I haven’t found something that’s relevant for me,” she said. “I’ve actually been waiting for something like this.”
Harris, too, already acts as something of a peer coach, in math. He said, “In a roundabout way, I was looking at getting a more academic foundation to support the kinds of roles I find myself fulfilling already.”
This new master’s, a two-year program for most, is a joint degree between two divisions of the College of Education — Curriculum and Instruction, and Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. It’s run by co-directors Gallucci and Nathalie Gehrke, a professor of Curriculum and Instruction. It’s a sort of hybrid degree, Gehrke said, with students taking intensive instruction in the summer and then continuing through the school year. The program is offered under the auspices of Educational Outreach.
Other faculty for the summer session are Sally Luttrell-Montes, Roger Soder and Anneke Markholt, all from the College of Education. There also are content area instructors in literacy, science, math, social studies and teaching English language learners.
The program, its directors say, is designed to answer the increased attention on accountability in education, as imposed by the national No Child Left Behind legislation and state-level policies that meet the requirements of that law.
“Schools and districts must meet the academic learning needs of an increasingly diverse student body, and ensure that all children meet acceptable standards by 2014,” Gallucci said. “Schools, school districts and states are increasingly recognizing the need to provide instructional support for teachers to meet these goals and are turning to nonsupervisory ‘coaching’ roles as one way to do that.
“This program could be viewed as a University-level response to the need for support and development related to these relatively new roles, which are referred to variously as instructional leader, instructional coach, change coach, etc.”
Gehrke said the idea for the program actually dates back to the late 1980s, when the need for teacher leadership instruction from the university level started becoming clear. “In the past, many of us were called on to provide ‘one-shot’ workshops or presentations to teachers for their professional development,” but began to see the limits of such an approach, Gehrke said. “We knew that follow-up and one-on-one support was necessary — that teachers needed someone to come alongside them and work in a more situation-specific, problem-solving mode. Someone to get them thinking on their own.”
The program also fits with intentions already expressed in the state’s education budget. Gov. Christine Gregoire this year signed into law legislation earmarking $5.4 million to train 50 math coaches in the next biennium, and 25 science coaches by 2008-09. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) also is in the early stages of embracing training for teacher-coaches, either in creating a certification program or less formally in class work for teachers.
Student Dori West also already has leadership skills on her resume. An extremely busy person — “I’m very ambitious and energetic,” she said — she teaches fifth grade at Audubon Elementary in the Lake Washington School District, but she also coaches teachers seeking national board certification, advises teachers at UW Bothell and teaches classes both for the Washington Education Association and for OSPI.
“What I wanted to do is consolidate all these leadership paths into one, where I’m primarily focused on the content area of science, or coaching other teachers in their own professional development,” West said. “I believe this program will lead to a better understanding of the process involved.” There’s a self-reflective element, too, she said, which she hopes will lead “to knowing myself and my strengths better — knowing how to conduct myself.”
Gehrkeexplained that these masters students are prepared to teach their “content areas” — science, math, literacy, social studies and English language learners — as well as leadership and coaching.
“Our hope is that people who go through this program will come out better equipped to play a variety of leadership roles, from mentors and cooperating teachers and coaches to team leaders or department chairs in the schools, to broaden support roles at the district level,” she said.
The students in this new program do not yearn to become principals or school superintendents as participants in other education leadership programs might. “You can get stuck in that and totally miss out on and become distanced from what’s really important,” said Gaalema. West agreed: “I’m not very interested in that, though I would not categorically rule it out. For me, my passion lies in the instructional opportunities with the students.”
Also helping to support teacher leadership development at the UW is its Center for Educational Leadership. The center offers continuing education for teachers, principals and school district leaders, with the overall aim of eliminating the “achievement gap” among students by changing school policies and systems. Both Gallucci and Markholt, teachers in the master’s program, also are on staff at the center.
Just now, this intensive summer program — 12 credits in three weeks — is virtually swamping these new students with information, but that’s unavoidable. “It’s a bit like drinking from a fire hose,” said Harris. He then deployed a more military metaphor: “The boot camp aspect of it will ease up as we finish this summer and start moving into other course work.”
Gaalema said of the intensive summer classwork, “It’s funny, because it’s just beginning, but in several days it will be over. I’ll cherish the lull time, but I’ll also miss the rigor.”
There are 20 students in the Masters in Instructional Leadership program this summer. Gehrke said, “The hope is to be successful enough that word of mouth and the success of the students will make the next cohort larger.”
If the interest it’s sparked in these talented educators is any indicator, the program is off to an excellent start.
“It’s extremely exciting, challenging and interesting to come here every day and think about deep things,” said West. “To think about leadership.”
