Principals: Leaders of leaders

specialist, teachers and teaching, at SERVE. Teacher leaders can help guide fellow teachers and the school at large toward higher standards of achievement and recognition of individual responsibility for school reform. Until this responsibility for teacher leadership is realized in every teacher, the field of teaching will not change. urrently, pressures to improve teacher quality come from all direc-tions. The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (1996) identified as a goal that by 2006, the United States would pro-vide every student a caring, competent, and qualified teacher in each of their school years. President Clinton (1997) echoed this standard by insisting &dquo;every child should have a talented and dedicated teacher in every classroom.&dquo; A recent study of teacher quality, however, reveals that few states have made progress in ensuring these goals (Olson 2000). Although policy decisions can influence teacher quality, principals and teachers are the indi-viduals who can take charge of teacher development school by school. To accomplish this will demand a broader definition of leadership within the school. Countless efforts to ensure high standards through locally adopted innovations and statewide pressures for accountability have not achieved the desired outcomes in stu-dent achievement. Carrying out these school reform models, standards, and local school programs depends on the ability of teachers to improve thei