America Achieves Education Champions Fellowship
The Education Champions Fellowship is sponsored by America Achieves, a non-profit organization that aims to help America become a global leader in educational excellence and prepare all young people for success in careers, college, and citizenship. The Education Champions Fellowship leverages the voice of a diverse group of the nation’s most effective principals and teachers to improve national education policy and increase the practical tools available to educators nationwide. Members of the group have advised national education leaders, mayors, and superintendents of major cities, and have played a crucial role in both of NBC’s nationally televised Education Nation summits.
Fellows receive a stipend and will be provided with unique opportunities to advise top education leaders at a conference where they will also work with other excellent educators to help find solutions to some of the education system’s greatest challenges. Fellows will come together multiple times a year for community building and training in education policy. All travel and lodging expenses are covered. Applications will be due in May.
Please visit: apply.americaachieves.org to apply.
Chancellor’s Teachers’ Cabinet
The Chancellor’s Teachers’ Cabinet is an advisory committee that gives teachers a voice in shaping the future of DCPS. Each year, 25 DCPS teachers are selected to serve as cabinet members. Cabinet members meet with the Chancellor monthly over the course of the school year and provide input on key policy decisions, present new ideas, share their perspectives from the classroom, and discuss the concerns of teachers across the district.
All current DCPS teachers are encouraged to apply to the cabinet. The application is available online each September, and more information about the selection process can be found at the Chancellor's Teachers' Cabinet page.
Hope Street Group National Teacher Fellowship
The Hope Street Group National Teacher Fellows are teachers and coaches who are leaders among their peers who want to share their expertise and ideas in helping shape national policy. Fellows will participate in meaningful online and in-person dialogue with other outstanding teachers from across the country to advocate for education policy changes focusing on teacher evaluation.
The National Teacher Fellows will serve as local and national spokespeople for teachers’ ideas and perspectives. They will have opportunities to meet directly with leading policymakers to share teacher views and to present teacher-generated solutions; learn media skills and receive support in writing blog posts, op-eds, and letters to the editor; and be invited to attend special events.
The application for the 2015 National Teacher Fellowship will open in Fall 2014. Please visit: hopestreetgroup.org for more information.
Teach Plus Teaching Policy Fellowship
The Teach Plus Teaching Policy Fellowship is a highly selective program for teachers interested in transforming the teaching profession to better reward excellence, promote teacher development, and retain top performers. During a cohort experience that spans 18 months, fellows meet in monthly sessions that offer personal interaction with key education leaders; a challenging course of study in education policy, research, and best practices from across the nation; and the opportunity to advocate for policies that will better serve students and retain excellent teachers.
For this fellowship, Teach Plus seeks classroom teachers in the first 2–10 years of their teaching careers who have ideas about policy change they would like to enact on a local and/or national level; a desire and the strong communication skills necessary to actively advocate for these changes; and a track record of success teaching students in urban schools.
To learn more about the application timeline and process, please visit teachplus.org.
Washington Teachers' Union Teacher Leaders Program
The Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) has launched their Teacher Leaders Program, through which union members with full-time classroom responsibilities will be selected to join a nationwide network of teacher leaders who want to take an active role in influencing policy.
The WTU will provide participating teachers with opportunities to develop the knowledge and skills needed to effectively influence policy at the local, state, and national levels, including how to frame practical policy positions that relate to improved student achievement; conduct research in classrooms and schools; engage the public and elected officials in community conversations about education; participate on advisory boards, panels, and task forces; develop research-based policy recommendations; and disseminate findings and recommendations nationwide.
Spotlight: Greg Dohmann, Assistant Principal, Jefferson Academy
Before joining Teach for America, Greg was a production researcher at ESPN. After teaching at a DC Charter School for two years, he joined Jefferson Academy in 2012. Greg's experience on the Chancellor's Teachers' Cabinet reinforced his belief that school-based and district-level turnaround demands teacher leaders who aren't afraid to advocate for their students and school communities. This was an opportunity for Greg to share his experiences, as well as learn from other top educators from around the city. Greg received a Rubenstein Award for Highly Effective Teaching in 2013, and now serves as Assistant Principal at Jefferson.
Teacher leadership is important because it allows us to expand our impact beyond the walls of our classroom. There are so many amazing educators in DC, and we should be leveraging their unique skills to transform not only classrooms, but entire schools.