Graduate Certificate in Teacher Leadership

Today’s collaborative educational environment yields frequent opportunities for teachers to take on informal and formal leadership roles. To be effective, these positions of responsibility require a unique skill set. The Salem State University Graduate Certificate in Teacher Leadership is an engaging and efficient way of acquiring the framework of theoretical and practical knowledge necessary for success.

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Program Requirements
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Program Requirements

Designed to support current and future teacher leaders (e.g., team leaders, specialists, department heads, instructional coaches, curriculum leaders, teacher mentors, and those aspiring to such roles), participants engage in a one-year, four-course sequence. Educators will learn the art of facilitation, professional learning design, data-informed decision making and action research–all competencies needed to effectively serve in informal and formal teacher leadership roles at the school level. Throughout, educators will focus on developing the mindset and stance of a teacher leader.

The core competencies of the program include:

  • Building a simultaneous stance of leader and learner, including the skills needed to “manage up” and lead alongside formal leaders

  • Engaging in a year-long leadership project, closely connected to a dilemma of practice in participants’ schools

  • Providing a theoretical and practical foundation upon which later formal leadership might rest

  • Providing a solid foundation upon which further graduate study can build – specifically, for candidates interested in pursuing licensure as a principal/assistant principal via a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS) in Educational Leadership. 

Each course is approximately seven weeks long and is a hybrid combination of in-class and online learning.

Core courses include:

AGS 730: Learning to Lead
AGS 735: Data-informed Educational Leadership
AGS 734: Leading Professional Learning
AGS 800: Facilitative Leadership

The certificate also offers the option of taking additional courses, for up to 18-credits total, for those interested in pursuing a CAGS degree at a later time, or for those interested in a particular content specialization.

Applying to the Graduate Certificate in Teacher Leadership Program

For those interested in applying to the Teacher Leadership Graduate Certificate Program (one-year) and/or the CAGS in Educational Leadership Program (two-years), please contact program coordinators at edleadership@salemstate.edu to determine eligibility and opportunities to join a district-based cohort.

Please note: All CAGS candidates seeking principal/assistant principal licensure must have completed the educator SEI endorsement from the State of Massachusetts. If the candidate does not have the required endorsement, the course must be taken during the CAGS program as an elective.

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