Since legislation was passed in 2015, NJEA has been in the lead at working with the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) to create a teacher leader endorsement to be attached to an instructional certificate. With the successful adoption of regulations in 2019, The NJEA Teacher Leader Academy (TLA) applied and was approved by the NJDOE to run their own program that leads members to this new endorsement.

Listen to what some of the graduates of the NJEA Teacher Leader Academy have to say about our program. Applications are now being accepted. Apply below.

New cohort beginning in June of 2024

Calendar for Cohort 5 - 24

 (Subject to revisions.)

Learn More

View the virtual information session below to learn more about the TLA.

About TLA

Candidates in the program are also eligible to receive 12 graduate credits through a partnership with Thomas Edison State University for this year long program.

Teacher leadership offers a paradigm shift that not only allows teachers to support their peers from a nonevaluative position, but also to influence the entire system. Teacher leadership gives educators a voice at the decision-making table on instructional issues at the school and/or district level.

At its core, the work of teacher leaders is to build the capacity of their peers. With that being true, what if there were a program to prepare teacher leaders in which the participants in the program were actually the faculty? That is the question at the center of the design of the NJEA Teacher Leader Academy.

Meeting weekly over the course of a year (both face to face and virtually) the core of the program focuses on regional study groups in which candidates for the endorsement identify their own strengths and areas where they want to challenge themselves.

With those areas identified, each candidate leads the learning of groups of seven or eight other teachers working with them on the endorsement. With the support of a group facilitator supplied by the NJEA Teacher Leader Academy, the study groups are designed to use feedback from other participants to create an incubator for leadership.

There is a strong emphasis on candidates developing the ability to walk the challenging line of acting as both peer and expert with their colleagues. Other components of the program include occasional meetings of the full cohort of 35 participants in Trenton (or virtually), as well as a clinical experience designed to meet the individual goals of each candidate.

Tuition

The tuition for the program is $6,000, which can be paid in installments over the course of the program. While language in your local collective bargaining agreement might place a limit on tuition reimbursement, schools can also use Title II funds from the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to fund professional development activities that build capacity for teacher leadership. The NJEA Teacher Leader Academy would be eligible for such funding.

Apply

If you are one of those teachers who others look to for guidance on instructional matters, or if your school looks to you for counsel in moving initiatives forward, and if you are ready to spend a year learning new approaches while examining your own leadership skills, consider applying for the NJEA Teacher Leader Academy.

Documents

Clinical Experience Handbook
TLA Conceptual Framework
NJEA TLA Policy Document