CSCTFL Leadership Program
Responsibilities
- Coordinate nominations of participants from each state's foreign language association
- Oversee leadership projects to focus on each state's identified issue or concern
- Coordinate funding to come partially from CSCTFL budget, CSCTFL grant and other sources of funding, including state funds or outside grants.
Strong leadership is a quality that every organization needs in order to thrive. The Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (CSCTFL) has developed a program based on a two-way peer-mentoring model in which:
- Emerging leaders exchange ideas and advice with their counterparts and, if available, with experienced mentors, during the Leadership Academy and throughout the year as they carry out a project of importance to their sponsoring world language organization;
- CSCTFL enlists the help and expertise of recent Leadership Program graduates to guide and encourage emerging leaders in subsequent leadership classes.
“Emerging leaders” are teachers who are either relatively new to the profession, or those who have recently become more active in language organizations. They would preferably be developing leadership skills.
Throughout the years, the CSCTFL Leadership Program has supported a variety of types of initiatives. Previous projects have focused on professional development activities at the state and local level, action research, advocacy, K-16 articulation, increasing membership and involvement in state organizations, and writing or implementing new world language standards and/or standards-based assessments.
Participation
Language educators from the Central States region may participate in one of three ways:
- self-identify or recommend colleagues from their school, school district, language association, or geographic region as emerging leaders for participation in the Leadership Program;
- develop and submit by the stated deadline and with the support of a sponsoring world language organization, a project proposal that focuses on a issue of importance, for which the emerging leader participates as a leadership fellow and serves as the leader for that project.
Commitment
Leadership fellows must:
- register for and attend two consecutive CSCTFL conferences: the
conference immediately after being selected as a leadership fellow and the conference the following spring;
- actively participate in leadership workshops offered at no additional charge at each CSCTFL conference to explore the meaning and responsibilities of leadership, to develop leadership skills, and to work together with mentors in designing and refining the project;
- carry out the project as proposed in the application within the timeline proposed;
- prepare and submit a written project report and present that report at the subsequent Leadership Program during the graduation breakfast; and
- disseminate the project’s results.
Mentors, who are graduates of the previous class, agree to support the leadership fellow throughout the development, implementation, assessment, and dissemination phases of the project. Mentors will attend the Leadership Program held in conjunction with the annual CSCTFL conference, and will also support their mentees through regular online and telephone contact.
Application
An application of no more than 1,000 words addressing the criteria on the CSCTFL Leadership Program Project Evaluation Rubric is required. The application deadline is January 10th each year.
Selection
New leadership fellows are announced by February 10th each year. Selection as a leadership fellow is based on
- the leadership potential shown by the applicant,
- the value of the proposed project to others, and
- the feasibility of the project.
Funding
CSCTFL suggests the following sources for financial support:
- state World Language associations,
- state departments of education, and
- school districts mini-grants or professional development funds.