The Ed.S. in Applied Teacher Leadership Program (TLP) is an advanced degree program targeting certified teachers who want to increase their instructional and leadership skills. Its purpose is to prepare its candidates to serve in teacher-centered leadership roles within the school or at the district level. Functioning through a performance-based framework, it achieves a balance between the experiences required for training and those required for development as a professional educator working with other educators. The TLP is designed for teachers who aim to become leaders in education, without assuming supervisor-based positions like Principal or Superintendent of Schools.
The TLP program is based in the Teacher Leader Model Standards. As such, the program objectives are baed on the domains within this framework and the student learning objectives are created with the functions of the teacher leader in mind. The components of the program - coursework, advisement, enhanced support, fieldwork, practicum, portfolio assessments, and capstone - have been designed to improve practice and lead to the development of the competencies mirrored in the program objectives and student learning objectives. In step, upon graduation candidates will be able to:
- Foster a collaborative culture to support educator development and student learning
- Access and use research to improve practice and student learning
- Promote professional learning for continuous improvement
- Facilitiate improvement in instruction and student learning
- Promote the use of assessments and data for school and district improvement
- Improve outreach and collabortaion with families and community
- Support for student learning and the profession