Teacher Leadership

Turning the Page collaborates with teachers to more effectively engage the parents of students in their classrooms and successfully leverage community resources. We believe that an investment by the entire school community is vital to our success and to our efforts encouraging parents to become involved in their school. We meet monthly with teachers across each of our partner schools in what we call Leadership Groups.

Since Turning the Page launched this initiative in 2001, teachers have developed numerous new strategies and practices to more effectively connect parents with their children's schools. Many teachers across so many schools here in DC believe passionately in the importance of family and community involvement and have tirelessly worked with Turning the Page to realize the goal of a welcoming, resource-rich school community. As one of our long participating teachers stated,

"I was enthralled by Turning the Page from the initial meeting! It seemed as if there was finally an organization that listened to our concerns and wanted to work with us in meeting our goals. When you really have a heart to be a [contributing] member of the school team, you are excited that someone can help articulate measurable goals. The Leadership Training was a positive frustration. It flushed out individuals that were committed to see our school become the place that we envision. It challenged us to pinpoint our concerns and to one day build a framework that could connect the many committees and initiatives. It also sent the underlying message that we have to take control of our school and from within, propose and create the desired changes. Although I have attended multiple trainings and watched the parents become more engaged in the Community Nights, I have been personally enhanced by the Leadership Training and working with my school's Leadership Group. This experience has allowed me to feel empowered and grow as a leader!"

Teachers participating in our Leadership Group initiative can point to numerous successes:

1. Leadership Group teachers have encouraged countless parents to attend Community Nights and faithfully promoted and participated in the program to ensure that the evenings truly do become community nights.
2. Leadership Group teachers have supported our Author Visits program by encouraging their colleagues to introduce the work of the volunteer authors in their classrooms and by preparing and leading student presentations at the start of each visit.
3. Teachers have been instrumental in helping and supporting parents as they reinvigorate parent-teacher organizations and create parent resource centers.
4. Since fall 2004, teachers have developed Back to School Nights that regularly draw more than one hundred parents and encourage parents to return to the school.

In 2008, we will be encouraging collaboration by forming professional learning communities as part of Leadership Groups. Teachers will suggest topics of exploration to us and then we will conduct research, provide academic articles and facilitate small group discussions among teachers. Possible focus areas include: integrating the arts into the core curriculum, reading and math activities to do at home, and ways to better engage parents in their children's education.