ETS to Develop First Teacher Leadership Assessment

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Princeton, N.J. (July 9, 2009) —

Educational Testing Service today announced that the Kansas State Department of Education and ETS will be working together to create the nation’s first assessment to identify teacher leaders for certification.

“We are working to develop a cutting-edge assessment of leadership skills and abilities that support effective teaching and effective schools,” says Linda Tyler, ETS Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Teacher Licensure and Certification. “Kansas is the first state that we are aware of that has envisioned a formal role for teacher leaders, developing standards for teacher leadership and a system for certifying teacher leaders. We are excited to be a part of this innovative effort.”

Kansas Commissioner of Education Dr. Alexa Posny notes, “Kansas has always made teacher quality a priority. The development of the teacher leader license creates the ability for every district and school to enhance the achievement of every student by providing our most effective teachers a career choice that keeps them teaching.”

Dr. Pamela Coleman, Director of Teacher Education and Licensure for the Kansas State Department of Education states, “The teacher leader license is a result of comprehensive, collaborative work among all educational stakeholders to honor Kansas teachers who choose teaching as a life-long career to impact student achievement in a positive manner.”

Kansas is envisioning a system that will allow for the grandfathering in of existing teacher leaders over a period of time as well as laying the groundwork for certification requirements for new teacher leaders. Teacher leader preparation programs are in the process of being designed for implementation in the near future.

In related work, ETS has convened a national group of stakeholders to begin the development of model standards for teacher leadership. This group includes national organizations, teacher leaders, principal leaders, Institutions of Higher Education, and state agency representatives. In an ancillary project, ETS is partnering with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the Center for Teaching Quality to conduct a research survey of leadership characteristics among various groups of teachers, including fifty years’ worth of State Teachers of the Year.

“These teacher leadership projects are excellent examples of ETS fulfilling its mission while contributing to the growing importance of teacher leadership in our schools,” Tyler says. “ETS is engaging in this work as a means for strengthening school effectiveness and student learning but also for increasing teacher retention at both ends of the educator development continuum, by providing growth avenues for experienced teachers and support for beginning practitioners. “

About ETS

At nonprofit ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, as well as conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® test and The Praxis Series™ assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide.