Teacher Leadership Program

The UWM Teacher Leadership Program is designed to provide skills to practicing classroom teachers that will enable them to take more responsibility for the overall decision-making and related activities that exist outside of their classrooms and within the larger school and community setting. There are two program options:

• Master's Degree in Administrative Leadership (33 credits) with an emphasis in Teacher Leadership, and
• Teacher Leadership Area of Emphasis core courses (15 credits) that can be taken by master's students in other departments within the School of Education or teachers who already hold a master's degree and are interested in Teacher Leadership as part of their professional development plan.

Teacher leaders are those who work alongside principals and other administrators to assist in the improvement and reform efforts of their school. Teacher leaders work to impact the organization and overall culture of their schools by initiating and supporting colleagues through sustained change efforts. These efforts might include:

• New school-wide programs
• Cultural change efforts
• School-wide curricular modifications or transformations
• Peer observation and teacher mentoring
• School and community activities
• Parental involvement efforts
• Grant acquisition, data collection
• Action research projects

In essence, teacher leaders work to identify and tackle impediments to school change in tandem with their colleagues to envision and create stronger school communities, increase the educational outcomes of all children and strive to eliminate the inequities that exist among children and teachers within schools.

This program provides a course of study that will develop these skills among teachers as the primary determinants of children's educational success. The program is appropriate for teachers who wish to advance their positions as teachers, serve in master teacher roles, or work as department heads. It is also appropriate for those who might want to eventually pursue additional certification in school administration.

The Teacher Leadership program does not lead directly to an administrative license. However, opportunities for licensure as Director of Instruction, School Principal, or Director of Special Education and Pupil Services are possible with successful completion of the master's degree program and demonstration of competency of the UWM-WI state standards for school administrators and the UWM guiding principles as evident in the candidate's electronic portfolio.

Upon completion of coursework required for licensure, all applicants must complete and submit for review an electronic portfolio.

Program of Study

Core Courses (15 credits)

Suggested Electives (18 credits from the following)

Applicants seeking licensure who already hold a Master's Degree are not required to complete a second graduate degree. They may register for all of the required course work as Non Degree Candidates (NDC) and be recommended for the appropriate license upon its successful completion. Work completed prior to beginning certification at UWM may be applied toward certification requirements as appropriate. There is no grade-point average admission requirement for NDC status.