Designing the Future of Learning: Inside the WLC’s Teacher Leadership Design Fellowship

When the WLC launched the Teacher Leadership Design Fellowship (TLDF) in September 2024, the goal was bold: equip educators across the city with the tools, support, and inspiration to reimagine classroom instruction and school culture from the inside out. By June 2025, the results were already shifting classrooms, boosting student outcomes, and sparking new models for school-based change.

This year’s TLDF cohort included 35 fellows from 11 schools, spanning WLC schools and two charter partners. Their year-long journey centered on three key learning pathways—math instruction, literacy instruction, and classroom culture and student engagement—providing a focused framework for growth and collaboration. Fellows engaged in an immersive mix of real-time coaching, collaborative workshops, and peer learning visits, plus inspiration trips to observe innovative teaching models at places like the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, GA, and leading public schools in Washington, DC.

“This is not something that’s happening everywhere,” explained Dr. Laura Burgos, Executive Director of the WLC, at a recent council meeting: “We’re fostering a city-wide community of learning, trading ideas. If you come visit any of the sessions, you will see everything from teachers engaged with math manipulatives, working through student assignments, to teachers examining climate and culture data with guidance and setting some clear goals for outcomes for their buildings.”

At the heart of this transformative experience were three vital partnerships that helped shape, deepen, and sustain the Fellowship’s impact: Jounce Partners, Transcend, and Rodel. Their collaboration with the WLC brought focused expertise, coaching, and design thinking that elevated the learning and leadership growth of every Teacher Leader.

Partner Spotlight: Jounce Partners

Working with the WLC, Jounce Partners brought a new level of instructional rigor to the Fellowship. Jounce, a certified professional learning organization, equips school leaders to strengthen teacher practice so that students in historically underserved schools can thrive. Their team provided weekly on-site coaching aligned to each fellow’s learning track—math, literacy, or classroom culture—and led community-of-practice sessions to deepen content knowledge and spark collaboration.

The approach emphasized actionable, real-time growth. Teacher Leaders worked closely with their Jounce coaches on lesson planning, practice-based feedback, and intellectual preparation. By focusing on these foundational skills, Jounce helped fellows strengthen their practice and prepare to lead others through both formal and informal coaching.

Initial results were exciting:

• 89% of fellows reported being more effective as a result of the training.
• 92% agreed that the content was directly applicable to their role.
• 71% felt more confident in their ability to improve student outcomes.

The qualitative feedback echoed the data. One Teacher Leader shared, “This session gave me more practical knowledge, big thoughts, and reflections to build on than everything I did last year. Thank you!” Others emphasized how powerful it was to receive consistent, tailored support over the course of the year. As one fellow put it, “It was a huge game-changer. Having someone work with me so closely and consistently gave me a new way to look at instruction.”

Tailoring the programming was also key, as TLDF isn’t just for classroom teachers. Instructional coaches and educators in other leadership roles received programming customized to their needs, with powerful results:

• At Bayard Elementary, a Teacher Leader and coach focused on math instruction. Student scores on in-class assessments rose by 20 percentage points.
• At Maurice Pritchett Sr. Academy, two fellows coached peers in phonics instruction and classroom culture, strengthening outcomes across the building.
• At Kuumba Academy, fourth-grade math proficiency increased from 22% to 45% within a single module.
• At Pulaski Early Education Center, student engagement in the library increased by more than 60%.
• At Joseph E. Johnson Elementary, targeted phonics coaching resulted in gains in phonological awareness and literacy as measured by screeners.

Partner Spotlight: Transcend

While Jounce focused on strengthening instructional foundations, Transcend—an organization that helps schools design and spread innovative, student-centered learning—partnered with Teacher Leaders to reimagine classroom experiences and spark schoolwide transformation. Through this collaboration, Transcend supported fellows in designing, testing, and refining new approaches that are rooted in student needs.

Their work began with inspiration. Fellows traveled to the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta and to public schools in Washington, DC—each hand-selected by Transcend for their alignment to the learning pathways of math, literacy, and student engagement. These visits helped fellows broaden their perspectives and begin envisioning what could be possible in their schools.

“When we took them on inspiration visits,” said Carly Highsmith, WLC’s Director of Educator Pathways, “they came back not only with the conviction and belief, but they also came back with action. They were ready to move forward with excitement and enthusiasm.”

Back home, fellows participated in full-day design workshops and launched two-week classroom pilots. Each fellow identified a challenge, designed a targeted experience, and measured its impact. The results were powerful:

• At The Bayard School, daily affirmations and peer seminars helped reduce behavioral issues and boost engagement in math.
• At Joseph E. Johnson Elementary, station rotations supported early reading skills and student confidence.
• At Kuumba Academy, music and performance helped students find their voices.
• At Maurice Pritchett Sr. Academy, a house competition lifted schoolwide morale and engagement.
• At EastSide Charter School, collaborative learning led to stronger student ownership and critical thinking.

“The two-week test pushed me to try something I’ve felt my school needed all year,” one fellow shared. “I’m sure I would’ve ended the school year without tackling this problem, but now I’ve seen small successes.”

Other fellows described the experience as eye-opening and energizing. “The inspiration visits really allowed me to believe that anything is possible,” said one. Another reflected, “This experience has ignited my ability to create critical thinking skills in my students.”

Looking Ahead

The collaboration between Jounce Partners, Transcend, and Rodel was intentionally designed to support both the instructional foundation and the innovative spirit of the Fellowship. Jounce’s consistent, on-the-ground coaching helped fellows strengthen their practice, Transcend equipped them to reimagine what’s possible, and Rodel inspired action planning for teacher leadership and school-level change.

And although the 2024–25 Fellowship has come to a close, momentum is only building. Teacher Leaders have submitted proposals to expand their work in collaboration with school administrators, coach their peers, and implement new strategies across their schools. A new cohort will begin this fall, while the current cohort enters a second year, scaling their impact and continuing to bring bold, student-centered ideas to life.

To explore the TLDF program and other teacher resources offered in partnership with the WLC, visit our Educator Support page.