Washington, DC, March 18, 2022—Teach Plus today issued the following statement on Representative Ruben Gallego’s (D-AZ-07) and Senator Ben Ray Luján’s (D-NM) introduction of the Teachers Leading, Educating, Advancing, and Designing (LEAD) Act.
“Conceived and designed by Teach Plus teacher leaders and Teach Plus, the Teachers LEAD Act is an important piece of legislation that creates a framework for teacher leadership around the nation,” said Lindsay Sobel, Teach Plus Interim CEO. “Teach Plus is grateful to Representative Gallego and Senator Lujan for leading legislation that will elevate the teaching profession and address teacher support and retention.”
The Teachers LEAD Act creates a grant program that allows local education agencies, educational service agencies, and Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools to create teacher leadership programs tailored to their local needs. Administered by the Department of Education, the grant program will:
- Create a sustainable program plan that leverages classroom teachers as teacher leaders who will participate in shared decision-making with school and district officials, support teacher participants, and impact student success;
- Provide opportunities for teacher leaders to take on instructional leadership and mentorship roles and program development;
- Encourage collaborative, evidence-based, sustained professional peer-to-peer learning;
- Provide teacher leaders time away from the classroom and compensation for their added responsibilities; and
- Report on the impact of the teacher leadership program on teacher retention and student outcomes.
“The Teachers LEAD Act has the potential to transform education systems through the creativity and expertise of one our country’s most valuable resources: teachers,” said Alisa Cooper De Uribe, 2021 New Mexico Teacher of the Year and Teach Plus New Mexico Policy Fellowship alumna. “Structuring sustainable and remunerative opportunities for educators to add their on-the-ground insight to the change-making tables is a recognition of educators’ immeasurable worth, and can help revitalize the profession through meaningful participation in the decisions that affect our students, our unique school communities, and our nation’s future.”
“If we honor the voice of educators and provide a space for their leadership in transforming education, we will see an immediate shift from requiring the need to recruit and retain teachers to a valued, passionate workforce for generations to come,” said Kristen Beland, Teach Plus Rhode Island Policy Fellowship alumna.
About Teach Plus
The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. Since 2009, Teach Plus has trained thousands of teacher leaders across the country who are driving policy changes and improving the instructional practices of teachers to create an education system driven by equity, access, and excellence for all students. Teachplus.org
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Contact: Anya Grottel-Brown, agrottelbrown@teachplus.org, 917-902-5902
