GRACE Teacher Leadership

Growing Reflective Authentic Catholic Educators

Register Your Teacher Leaders for GRACE 2025-26 HERE

Catholic school leadership has undergone a significant transformation in recent years, reflecting the changing landscape of education and the evolving needs of our Catholic and non-Catholic communities. Traditional models of school leadership, characterized by top-down decision-making and rigid hierarchical structures, are giving way to more collaborative and inclusive approaches – school leaders are expected to distribute leadership throughout their schools. As Catholic school teachers are responding to the diverse needs of their individual schools, many are yearning for mentorship, collaboration and continuing their own professional development. These local, school-based leaders embrace innovative teaching practices, embrace high quality education from a Catholic lens, and foster a culture of continuous improvement. Moreover, these teacher leaders prioritize research based and inclusive academic practices, recognizing the importance of creating an environment that values diversity and empowers all students to succeed.

The changing nature of Catholic schools demands leaders who are not only knowledgeable and skilled but also compassionate, empathetic, and capable of fostering a culture of collaboration and growth. These are the characteristics of GRACE teacher leaders.

2025-26 Schedule:

Unless otherwise noted, all in person meetings will take place at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Tukwila, WA.

Program Touchstones

Collaboration. The cornerstone of the GRACE program is collaboration amongst educators with similar needs, experiences, and ideas and simultaneously being open to learning from a diverse group of teacher leaders in the program.

Reflective Growth. There is rarely a more important aspect of the continuous learning process than reflecting on one’s own practice, learning from areas of growth and celebrating the successes of school-based leadership.

Building Leadership Capacity. Leading with authenticity, GRACE teacher leaders understand their important role as members of their school’s leadership team. They are supported in implementing programs, research-based practices, and facilitating the continual growth of their colleagues.

Mission Statement

The GRACE teacher leader program builds authentic leadership capacity within Catholic schools through academic collaboration, high quality leadership training and research-based, reflective practices that aligns with the Catholic faith and supports academic inclusivity for all students.

GRACE teacher leaders are expected to:

• Attend, participate and contribute ideas to all meetings (3 full day in-person and 3x 2 hour virtual sessions) all during the school day.
• Meet with their school leader/principal at least once a month to discuss learning, progress and new items from GRACE and to plan for leading one PLC meeting a month in their school
• Help plan, attend, and/or present at the virtual PD&C Day Annually
• Create a PD plan of their own for this upcoming school year – work with their school leaders to earmark PLC times as well as other PD opportunities that may be warranted for their particular schools’ work.
• Participate in subcommittee work specific to their own areas of interest and needs of their schools when given the opportunity and/or serve on an accreditation team.

School leaders are expected to support GRACE teacher leaders by:

• Meeting with them monthly and helping them plan for PLCs
• Granting GRACE TLs release time for all six meetings throughout the year and helping teachers to find classroom substitutes during meeting times.(This will be for three full days and three half days, as well as release time for PD&C Day should that not be in your school’s PD calendar already.)
• Stipending TLs through Title II Funds and/or the school operational budget
• Guiding them in PD opportunities and encouraging TLs to take advantage of OCS-supported certifications, accreditation team participation and leadership academy participation if wanted.
• Providing mentoring and support to increase building leadership capacity!

OCS will support schools with the GRACE program by:

• Creating relevant and timely meeting agendas that align to the bigger vision for GRACE
• Providing clock hours and codes for all meetings both virtual and in-person 
• Coordinating speakers, experts, research and frameworks that support schools in PLC work
• Providing virtual meeting spaces for teacher leaders, PreK-12, to ensure collaboration, mentoring, and relationship building

In addition, GRACE teacher leaders will have access to leadership development opportunities throughout the school year including access to a BLC (Building Leadership Capacity) retreats and coaching (and resources) from local experts in effective and inclusive school programs.

We encourage GRACE teacher leaders to participate in accreditation work by participating in visiting accreditation committees, or chairing WCEA teams outside of the Archdiocese of Seattle – email Justyna for more information on these opportunities.

If you have questions about GRACE, please connect with Justyna King (justyna.king@seattlearch.org) or Lisa O’Leary (elizabeth.oleary@seattlearch.org).

GRACE Mid-Year Report – 2023-24: GRACE mid year newsletter

Resources from 2022-2023:

Link to 22-23 GRACE TRELLO Board with Resources: https://trello.com/invite/b/dG2XSqnZ/0254584cc976d31ce59158d7e40fce53/grace-2022-23

2023 Haring Center for Inclusive Education Resources: OCS – Managing Behaviors 042023 JA

GRACE Program FAQ

HISTORY & BACKGROUND:

The GRACE Teacher Leader Program has evolved since its inception in 2017 when its purpose revolved around establishing PLCs in schools for the purpose of data-driven instructional practices. In 2020, as a response to the pandemic and opportunity for virtual collaboration, the GRACE program adapted into a collaborative, leadership-focused program that still trained schools in Professional Learning Communities and shared instructional practices but responded to the real-time needs of schools. As we are heading into a post-pandemic education reality, we continue to create programs that respond to the needs that schools have experienced for the last several years and continually need to adapt to the learnings we have had as schools and as a Catholic community of educators.

What is the GRACE program?

GRACE is a program for outstanding teachers who want to share their expertise and talents with other teachers in their schools. Teachers receive training in various aspects of teacher leadership to become instructional leaders in their schools.

Fall/Winter Update Newsletter 2022: GRACE Newsletter Volume 5 – 2022

Fall Quarter Newsletter 2020: GRACE Newsletter Fall Quarter 2020

Winter Quarter Newsletter 2020: GRACE Newsletter November 2020

Spring Quarter Newsletter 2021: GRACE Spring Newsletter 2021

Summer Quarter Newsletter 2021: GRACE Spring and Summer 4th Edition

How often do GRACE teacher leaders attend Archdiocesan meetings?

For 2022-23, we have six “official” meetings – three virtual and three in-person workshops. In addition, GRACE teachers are expected to attend, participate and plan for PD & Curriculum Day 2023, which is virtual, on February 10th, 2023.

What is the time commitment for GRACE teacher leaders?

In addition to attending GRACE meetings, orientation and the virtual PD&C Day, the teacher leaders are expected to collaborate with their principals to lead one staff collaboration meeting per month at their schools.

Are GRACE teacher leaders compensated for their time?

Most schools choose to compensate their teacher leaders, but this is determined at the local level.

What training and professional development will I receive as a GRACE teacher leader?

GRACE trainings currently focus on the following competencies: (1) Understanding how to work with adult learners, (2) Facilitating professional learning communities, (3) instructional coaching and (4) implementing strategies for Universal Design of Learning

If I join the GRACE program, how long will I be expected to stay in the program?

We ask that all GRACE teachers make an initial two-year commitment to fully benefit from the program. After two years, teachers are invited to continue with the program but may also choose to complete the program at that time.

What do current teacher leaders say about the program?

“The GRACE Teacher Leadership program has helped the Archdiocese of Seattle begin a culture shift that only working in true PLCs can offer. It has encouraged us to unify our approach to professional development as we work to inform and improve our individual and collective practices.”

“The GRACE program has given me the opportunity to both learn and lead. I think that both are vital pieces of leadership.  I have learned how to put best practices into my teaching life, and I have grown as a leader, helping teachers in my school and my region, and leading by example. I love the opportunity to collaborate with other schools. It is exciting to see schools that are steps ahead of ours and to learn from their experiences. It is also empowering to give structure and share ideas with those who are steps behind us.  Each school is very different. We are all at different places in this process. The beauty of GRACE is that we can still share ideas and learn from each other. We can still come together through in-person and online meetings to collaborate. GRACE has empowered teachers to lead in our schools.”

For video testimonials, and to see teacher leaders in action, click here.

How can I find out more about the program?

If you’d like to learn more, please feel free to reach out to Dr. Justyna King at the Office for Catholic Schools at justyna.king@seattlearch.org

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