DPS announces 32 new sites for teacher leadership program

Denver Public Schools announced today which 32 schools will be home to its “differentiated roles” program, which creates hybrid teaching-administration positions.

At the start of the of 2015-16 school year in August, more than half of the district’s schools will have teacher-leaders, a role the district first piloted in 14 schools in 2013-14. Teacher-leaders teach a part-time courseload but also coach, mentor, and evaluate a team of teachers at their school.

See the full list of new schools here.

At an event at the Denver Center for International Studies this morning, superintendent Tom Boasberg said he would like eventually to have the program in all the district’s schools. In the past, he said, teachers were faced with an “unnecessary choice, which is,  Either you can continue to teach or you can lead. We wish to make sure our teachers have the opportunity to teach and to lead.”

Kevin Adams, a teacher who is working with Gerardo Munoz, a first-year team leader at the international studies school, said that in this, his 10th year of teaching, “I have thought more about practice than in my previous nine years.”

The district plans to invest as much as $4.5 million in the program next year.

What do you think about the teacher leadership role? Let us know by responding to our Question of the Week.

Chalkbeat wrote about the district’s plan to expand its differentiated roles program earlier this week.