CSISD Teacher Leadership Academy
The College Station Teacher Leadership Academy was established in 2015. The original intent of the academy was to identify teacher leaders that had the potential to lead their peers and possibly make a transition into administration in the future. Over the course of the year, teacher leaders complete a curriculum that is centered around how to grow and develop leadership skills to better lead yourself as well as your peers. As our district continues to grow and develop, so has the TLA program.
Now, the CSISD Teacher Leadership Academy is intended to grow and develop teachers to be better peer leaders. The program is designed to teach and develop the skills teachers need to be department leaders, grade level leaders, facilitators, and serve in leadership roles across the campus as needed.
Teacher leadership academy session topics of sessions include: the importance of play in leadership and learning, collaboration skill development, why change is hard, difficult conversations, leading through influence, and continued professional development and growth.TLA Participants also work through the course of the program on what is called their Risk Taking Opportunity. We know that we learn best through learning experiences. The RTO requires the teachers to work in collaboration with their campus administrators to identify a key need on the campus and develop an action plan that will be implemented to address the identified need. This is a risk for teachers because they are trying something that is unfamiliar, uncomfortable, or something they otherwise would not have done on their own. In combination with their learning as a part of TLA, the participants put the plan into action and share the results with their fellow TLA participants.
Teachers that are interested in being a participant in TLA need to contact their campus principal. Nominations are made by the campus principal in the late spring and the new cohort begins in the fall. As of the 22-23 school year, over 300 CSISD teachers have completed the program since 2015.