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How it all started...
How it all started...
With the help of a Belk Foundation grant from 2013 to 2016, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools partnered with Public Impact (PI) and Education Resource Strategies (ERS) to utilize innovative classroom re-design models that offer highly-effective teachers opportunities to advance in their careers without leaving the classroom, positively impact academic achievement for more students, build capacity among their teams, and earn more money. After merging with Opportunity Culture's Project LIFT in 2020, the program flourished to support over seventy schools, created a sustainable professional development plan for teacher-leaders and school-leaders, and created a talent pool process to ensure only the very best educators are offered teacher-leadership opportunities. We are now known as the Teacher Leader Pathway. Our department is currently supporting our 12th cohort, with 179 Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools on the path to becoming TLP by the 2025-2026 school year.
How are we doing it?
How are we doing it?
Schools participating in the program think strategically and innovatively about how to optimally organize their resources—time, people, and money. As a result, the cohorts of schools within the district that participate have a significant increase in the number of students receiving instruction from an excellent teacher and are seeing benefits of increased student achievement and teacher capacity. Strategic design plans enable our schools to offer, and sustain, teaching models which allow excellent teacher-leaders to reach more students, support more teachers, and advance in their careers while getting paid more for their extra responsibilities.
Multi-Classroom Leaders
Time-Technology Swap
Time-Time Swap
Class-Size Change
Elementary Specialization
Remote Teaching
Multi-Combination Swaps
Sustainability: Schools reallocate their current resources (time, people, money) in order to implement and sustain these innovative models and roles.
Sustainability: Schools reallocate their current resources (time, people, money) in order to implement and sustain these innovative models and roles.
Training & Support: Professional development is provided to school-leaders as well as teacher-leaders accepted into the talent pool.
Training & Support: Professional development is provided to school-leaders as well as teacher-leaders accepted into the talent pool.
Prior to becoming TLP, school leaders complete Teacher Leader Academy to learn about the program and how to create a design that is aligned with their school improvement goals. They learn to sustain their design within current school budgets. Principals in new cohorts may visit existing cohort schools in the district to see the other schools' designs in action.
All candidates accepted into the talent pool receive professional development to support their success as teacher-leaders. Additionally, candidates hired into teacher-leader roles receive job-embedded coaching and are also offered opportunities to job-shadow other successful staff in their same role.
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