Teachers often talk about having 鈥渁 place at the table"鈥攁 means to influence education policy in a way that reflects the needs of the teaching profession.
At the federal level, the program is intended to approximate that vision. It鈥檚 a one-year program that allows teachers to spend time working within the U.S. Department of Education. The selected educators are also expected to foster communication about teaching within the department, including with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
The ambassadors occupy a unique position, acting on behalf of a profession that frequently rages against education policy while also being a key part of the organization in which those policies are often developed.
Those accepted into the program often start off wondering how to reconcile the inherent contradictions of their roles.
鈥淲hen we came in, I said, 鈥楧o I have to like what you do? Do I have to agree with what ED does?鈥欌�� said Tami Fitzgerald, a teacher of 33 years currently serving in her second year as an ambassador. 鈥淭hey said, 鈥楴o.鈥� And Arne told us: 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 represent ED, you represent teachers, so if you go out and teachers are mad and upset about something, I want you to come in here and be mad and upset.鈥欌��
Maddie Fennell, working in a part-time ambassador position this year, jokes that she applied for the fellowship 鈥渢o see if people at the department do have horns and tails. ... The farther [policy] gets from you, the easier it is to demonize.鈥�
鈥楻eal Teachers鈥�
But the ambassadors insist they are not the department鈥檚 marionettes, either.
鈥淲e鈥檙e real teachers,鈥� said Emily Davis, a full-time ambassador who will enter her 12th year of teaching next fall. 鈥淲e are very cognizant, too, that we aren鈥檛 the only teachers in the country.鈥�
Fitzgerald applied to the TAF program after seeing widespread dissatisfaction among her colleagues with the direction of education policy.
鈥淚鈥檓 watching all these new teachers come in and teaching has become so hard and so discouraging for some of them, and I just thought, 鈥榃ho is ruining the profession? What is going on here?鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淎nd so I decided it was really time for me to step out and ... look at education a little bit differently.鈥�
The Education Department established the Teaching Ambassador Fellowship in 2008, the result of a proposal that White House Fellow and teacher Jocelyn Pickford made to then-U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. The program continued when the department transitioned to Secretary Duncan under President Obama鈥檚 administration.
More than 80 teachers have participated in the fellowship today, though in 2013 the department made a slight reduction to the number of TAF members in order to make room for a similar fellowship for principals.
This year鈥檚 TAF group consists entirely of 鈥渁lumni,鈥� or second-year fellows, per Duncan鈥檚 request, in order to cut down the learning curve. (Next year鈥檚 ambassadors will be mostly new, with only one spot occupied by an alum.) In a major coup for the TAF program, in 2014, the department added an alumnus ambassador, Boston teacher James Liou, to the agency鈥檚 central, agenda-setting policy committee.
鈥淭eachers really need to see that they are being represented at the highest level, and here鈥檚 one way you can demonstrate teacher leadership at the highest level,鈥� said Gillian Cohen-Boyer, director of the TAF program.
Gaining Influence
Since 2008, the ambassadors have worked to gain a greater role in the department. They鈥檝e been involved in several high-profile programs, helming 2012鈥檚 RESPECT initiative that calls for better treatment of the teaching profession. have had difficulty with the cognitive dissonance emerging from the department鈥攃alling for more respect for teachers, while backing policies that many say hurt the profession.
Fitzgerald says that much of the criticism TAF members hear from other teachers about the department centers on testing and accountability policies. Ruthanne Buck, senior advisor to Duncan, says that the ambassadors鈥�"the best and the brightest"鈥攈ave been active and vocal on behalf of their colleagues鈥� concerns. 鈥淭heir value is unmatched,鈥� she said.
Determining the exact links between input from TAF members and the actual policy changes made by the Education Department relies mostly on anecdote, though there are traces of the ambassadors鈥� influence, for example, in the department softening its stance on teacher-evaluation systems.
Execution of the Teach to Lead initiative ultimately fell to the National Board and the Teaching Ambassador Fellows. It鈥檚 another program that aims to create a structure within the education system that supports teacher leadership. Read more.
TAF has had a more obvious role in special projects. When Secretary Duncan announced the formation of Teach to Lead in March 2014, part of a partnership with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, he told TAF to lead the charge for the department.
At the Teach to Lead summit held in Denver this January, the ambassadors seemed to pop up wherever needed, as though channeling Glinda the Good Witch. They were taking pictures, running social media, conferring with participants and officials, keeping the program running on time, and fielding the occasional request from a reporter.
鈥淪everal participants came up to me after the summit in Denver and said this is the most important thing the department has done for [them] in six years,鈥� Buck said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know whether or not that鈥檚 true鈥攊t鈥檚 probably not鈥攂ut if they feel that way, that鈥檚 wonderful, and that makes me feel good. It makes me feel it was the right thing for teachers to be leading Teach to Lead.鈥�
Cohen-Boyer wants to see the TAF program build on that success.
鈥淚 would love to see us as a sustained, expected part of what we do here at ED regardless of party,鈥� Cohen-Boyer. 鈥淭hat it鈥檚 just a part of how we do our work, making sure that we鈥檙e really reaching out to teachers, hearing what they have to say, that they always have a place to share those things.鈥�
