Dr. Celine Coggins founded Teach Plus in 2007 to empower excellent, experienced teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students' success. Under Celine's leadership, Teach Plus has introduced groundbreaking programs and built a nationwide network of over twenty‐six thousand teachers.

Celine started her career as a middle school teacher in Worcester, Massachusetts. She went on to become a special assistant to the Massachusetts commissioner of education, working on a set of initiatives to improve teacher quality. Celine completed her PhD at Stanford University and also holds degrees from Boston College and the College of the Holy Cross. A recognized expert on teacher leadership, Celine is a frequent invited speaker on the topic both nationally and internationally, and appears regularly in media outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Atlantic. She holds an appointment as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard University. She is the author of more than two dozen reports and journal articles and the editor of three prior books.

Few professions are more important to our nation's future than teaching. Teachers support students' growth as they develop into well‐rounded, engaged members of our society who are prepared to lead thriving lives and give back to their communities. Teachers spark students' curiosity about learning. And teachers play a vital role in ensuring that our nation lives up to its promise as a land of opportunity where, with a good education, hard work, and determination, all of our people—regardless of race, background, or circumstance—can choose their path to fulfillment and success.

Especially in recent years, a movement in education has been growing around the notion of teacher leadership. This is the simple, yet powerful idea that teachers should be valued both as the foremost authorities in instruction and as leaders who inform the development of policies that can drive improvements in the education system and student outcomes. It is also the idea that teachers should not have to leave the profession they love in order to exercise leadership in strengthening it.

For years, I have been impressed by Teach Plus, an organization that understands educators are the real experts at how policy gets translated in classrooms. Teach Plus has done incredible work to identify and develop teacher leaders who can advocate for school‐level change, advance solutions to policy problems, and advise peers through professional development that they create and lead.

While I served as Secretary of Education under President Barack Obama, the Department of Education, along with ASCD, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), and other nongovernmental organizations, furthered a teacher leadership initiative called Teach to Lead, which continues today. I am proud of the projects that thousands of educators have led individually and in cohorts as part of this work—which includes hundreds of action plans for education improvements in schools, districts, states, and across the nation.

Organized efforts such as Teach Plus and Teach to Lead are critical in continuing to build a movement of educator empowerment throughout America. Also important is that individual teachers understand how to take up the mantle of teacher leadership and how to leverage their expertise and voices in ways that can have the greatest impact.

This book is a how‐to guide to do just that, but not only for teachers. It also is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to advocate for the excellent education that all our children deserve.

As Celine Coggins points out in the following pages, all advocacy is personal. Before you can even hope to make the changes you seek, you have to understand your “why”—the thing that drives you.

For me—as a former teacher, principal, education leader at the state and national levels, and now, as an advocate with The Education Trust—the “why” always has been about ensuring that every student has access to the transformational and life‐saving power of great teachers in great schools.

By the time I was 12 years old, both of my parents passed away due to illness. It was because of the support, encouragement, inspired teaching, and love of my New York City public school teachers that I made it through that difficult period and do the work I do today.

Teachers saved my life. And, every day, I know there are educators who are doing the same thing for students in classrooms all over our country. They do this even as they deliver instruction, facilitate engaging classroom lessons, master technology, analyze student work and data on student performance, and, increasingly, take on new leadership roles.

To ensure that teacher leadership is an achievable and sustainable endeavor for all teachers, it is essential that schools, districts, and states support teachers with resources and provide educators with the time and opportunities to lead. That might mean the chance to serve as peer mentors and coaches, the creation of career ladders, and the space to sit at the decision‐making table.

But as you will learn in this book, if you strive to be a teacher leader, it is not enough to simply know your “why,” or to create or take advantage of a leadership role. To be influential and impactful, you also need to understand the context, constraints, and opportunities of policy.

Fortunately, our nation's new education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, includes provisions that ensure teachers can meaningfully contribute to decisions that affect the work they do with students each day.

For this reason, and because of conversations that will undoubtedly be started as a result of this book, it is an exciting time for teacher leadership in America.

As you deepen your commitment to teacher leadership or consider this work for the first time, I want to encourage you to do two things: lead on behalf of equity and lead on behalf of democracy.

The first entails focusing your efforts on closing opportunity gaps for low‐income students, English learners, students of color, and students with disabilities that result in academic achievement gaps— which separate these students from their classmates and deny them the chance to achieve their dreams.

Historically underserved students have less access to quality preschool, advanced coursework, great teachers, and safe schools. They also are suspended and expelled at higher rates than their more advantaged peers. These disparities contribute to cycles of underachievement and lost potential for our children. That is why we need teachers to lead on behalf of equity. We need your leadership to right these wrongs and to address the challenges of our most vulnerable students, including homeless and foster youth and those involved in the juvenile justice system. We need your leadership to ensure that all students receive the resources and supports necessary for them to thrive.

Our nation also needs you to lead on behalf of democracy. This work entails preparing students for good citizenship so that they may become the next generation of thinkers and doers who will strengthen our communities and our country.

Leading on behalf of democracy means providing students with knowledge of civics, history, and social studies. It means nurturing students' ability to discern fact from fiction, to read and listen critically, to convey well‐reasoned arguments grounded in evidence, and to understand and appreciate the perspectives and experiences of people who may be different from them. It means encouraging students to exercise their civic duties through service learning. And it means teaching them about the importance of voting and standing up for causes that matter to them.

The choices that teachers make about how to lead and lift their voices, to a large extent, determine the success of our students and our education system. As a nation, we also need to create clearer, stronger paths to capitalize on teachers' energy, expertise, and ideas—and, ultimately, elevate a profession that is central to all children achieving the American Dream.

—John King, president and CEO of The Education Trust; former U.S. Secretary of Education

The stories of this book are mostly the stories of educators I've had the pleasure of interacting with through Teach Plus. Sharing late nights with teachers studying policy, visiting their classrooms, and talking about their limitlessly unpredictable students are the highlights of my work life. Teachers like Marilyn Rhames, Abby Taylor, and Jacob Pactor have inspired me with their commitment to kids and to breaking down the barriers that stand in the way of their success. I feel privilege and responsibility in sharing their stories.

Writing this book was a team effort at Teach Plus. The entire staff was my writing accountability group. Each Friday, I committed to sending my progress in an all‐staff email. Each week, I got questions, comments, and corrections back in return. The final chapters are infinitely better for this feedback. Special thanks goes to my cofounder, Monique Burns Thompson, as well as Anya Grottel‐Brown, Lindsay Sobel, Paul Toner, and Will Wiggins.

I owe my ability to translate between teacher‐speak and policy‐speak to the best policy mentors in the country. David Driscoll, Paul Reville, Hon. George Miller, Milbrey McLaughlin, Joan Talbert, and Linda Darling‐Hammond have all shaped my worldview on policy and contributed in various ways to this book.

I am grateful that many of my favorite memories of writing this book will be of working alongside my school‐age daughters as they did their homework. I was never writing about something abstract. My motivation to be a good role model to them was intertwined with my motivation to contribute to improving schools while there is still time to impact their age cohort. They were my celebration committee at the conclusion of each writing stage and my all‐too‐opinionated focus group on cover designs. They are my purpose and my joy.

My decision to take on the risk of writing my first book was made infinitely easier knowing that my husband would support me, succeed or fail. I love you, Randy Wambold. I cannot imagine this process without you tirelessly fixing the printer, relentlessly teasing me about my love of “sets of ideas,” and teaching me the meaning of words I use imprecisely. To be married to the person you admire and respect most in the world is life's greatest gift.

I wrote this book during a time of transition in US society. When I began, President Obama was in office, and the smart money was on Hillary Clinton becoming his successor. I finished the book in the days surrounding President Trump's inauguration. If teachers were concerned that leaders weren't listening in the previous era, that feeling has heightened with the entering administration. This is certainly a moment for teachers to learn to raise their voices.

However, this is not a book about learning to yell louder. Influencing the decisions that affect your classroom involves developing new skills, knowledge, and relationships. This is the playbook for getting started on that advocacy path. It will help you become more savvy about which issues to take on and how to best use your limited time to have an impact that will benefit your students.

We do not know what the future holds for the education agenda in America. In truth, we can never be sure in advance. Yet there are a few certainties that guide this book and make me optimistic about the role of teachers in keeping that future bright.

One of these certainties is that our students, especially our most vulnerable students, need us to act. For undocumented students, the threat of deportation now looms large. Basic agreement on the role of the federal government in supporting special needs students may now be in question. Funding cutbacks have been proposed. Teachers know best what the true costs of such changes would be in our schools, and need to be at the table to defend against them.

Another certainty is that very little education decision making happens in Washington DC. Even though the spotlight always shifts to the federal government with the arrival of a new president, most of the power to set direction in education resides at the state and local levels. The 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act pushed much more decision making away from the federal government and closer to schools. A mantra of the Trump administration is that education should be handled at the state and local levels. As states and districts work to design new, locally relevant policies, there will be opportunities for teacher participation.

A final certainty is that the voice of teachers matters. At a moment when many citizens are seeking moral authority figures around whom to mobilize, teachers have natural leadership potential. The public generally has high trust in teachers, and parents see teachers as a valuable source of information. If you take the leap to advocate for an issue you are passionate about, others will follow.