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This article describes a state-level partnership between the Department of Education, a National Writing Project site, and teacher leaders at five schools. The partnership's goal was to empower teacher leaders to implement a professional learning project at their individual schools.
Throughout our teaching careers, most of us have participated in professional development workshops. Some are led by administration, and some are led by outside contractors disconnected from the school and teaching context; however, models such as the National Writing Project (NWP) position teachers at the center of effective professional development opportunities. The NWP model of teachers teaching teachers empowers teachers to assume leadership roles within and beyond their school communities by preparing for those roles through programs such as Invitational Summer Institutes.
Teacher empowerment has several dimensions, but it happens primarily when teachers are "treated like professionals, feel like professionals, and have the tools to succeed" and when teachers "feel in control of [their] professional lives and encourage others to be successful-in other words, [they] are exercising informal leadership" (Zemelman and Ross x). National Writing Project (NWP) sites work within an established framework of summer institutes, teacher-led professional development, and continuity to cultivate teacher leaders and empower them by applying these principles. Invitational Summer Institutes traditionally serve as the gateway by which teachers become involved with NWP sites and start to devote time to developing their skills in the area of teacher leadership. In a recent survey of the teacher leaders participating in NWP's Invitational Summer Institutes across the country, two key findings emerged: (1) "the need for high quality professional development in the teaching of writing" and (2) "the NWP as a vital national resource for educational improvement" (Stokes). National Writing Project offers a powerful platform for empowering teachers and for other organizations such as universities and state departments of education partnering with NWP to create professional development. Research on professional learning has shown that teachers need to be actively involved in their own learning and that collaboration between institutions is essential (Cook).
Partnerships for Leadership
Recognizing the need for more authentic and sustainable models of professional development, the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) turned toward the NWP sites across the state to examine ways to offer more relevant professional development to schools....