1. Communities of Practice & Transformation
“What is the probable future
given the magnetic pull of the
past?” (incremental change)
“What is truly possible?”
(transformation)

2. Why is a “Community of Practice” Approach Essential?
A community of practice is a group of people who share a challenge, and
accelerate learning around the challenge through regular engagement and
thought partnership with each other, resulting in deepened impact in the
region.
This approach to learning holds great promise for Executive Directors, as
they face an increasingly complex and challenging external environment at
a time when they must simultaneously lead through significant internal
change.
.
Regional/
“OneTFA”
Challenges
Broader
“Education Reform”
Movement Challenges

3. 1
3
2
4Thought
Leadership
Powerful
Learning
Diversity &
Inclusiveness
Increased Individual
& Collective Impact
Executive Director
Communities of Practice

4. Year 1: Executive Director
Communities of Practice are
established and are viewed as
high-impact learning structures
that are transformative to
individual members and the
collective because of the
culture, learning, and impact
they influence.
Year 2: Executive Director
Communities of Practice are
embedded into
broader/relevant structures
(such as home teams) and
support culture, learning, and
impact.
Year 3: Executive Director
Communities of Practice focus
on supporting Executive
Directors to strategically begin
to develop Communities of
Practice in and between their
regions, supporting culture,
learning, and impact of their
regional and broader national
teams.
Three Year Vision/
Arc of Development

5. Communities of Practice:
Powerful Learning
Powerful Learning
Vision of What is Possible:
Communities of Practice (CoPs) will
accelerate individual learning by
building a collaborative, authentic, and
powerful community of leaders who
orient to one another with care,
challenge, and urgency, so much so that
each community member feels deeply
respected, understood, supported, and
challenged in a way that enables them
to take the necessary strategic risks to
live out a bold and transformational
vision that is truly and undeniably
game-changing for the students and
communities who we serve.
Year 3 • 90% of EDs who engage in CoPs feel that they are a part of
an collaborative, authentic, and powerful community of
leaders who orient to one another with care, challenge, and
urgency.
• 90% of EDs who engage in CoPs feels deeply respected,
understood, supported, and challenged in a way that they
can directly connect to taking necessary strategic risks to live
out bold and transformational impact in regions for
students/communities.
Year 1 • All of the above & 75% of Executive Directors who engage in
pilot CoPs can make a specific connection between new
learning that has occurred as a result of CoP engagement
that has positively impacted their leadership/region.
Q2 • 10 Executive Directors who engage in Communities of
Practice/CoP approach feel that CoP meetings are
collaborative, authentic, and powerful spaces and that their
fellow CoP members orient to one another with care,
challenge, and urgency.
• 10 Executive Directors who engage in Communities of
Practice/CoP approach feel deeply respected, understood,
supported, and challenged by their engagement in the CoP.
• 7 Executive Directors who engage in pilot CoPs can make a
specific connection between new learning that has occurred
as a result of CoP engagement that has positively impacted
their leadership/region.
Powerful Learning

6. Communities of Practice:
Individual & Collective
Impact
Powerful Learning
Year 3 Executive Directors are leading the way in contribution of
thought leadership within Teach For America but also within the
broader education reform community; developing and evolving
this thought leadership through engagement in powerful
Communities of Practice that support individual and collective
growth and increase impact across regional contexts.
Year 1 • At least 1 informal network amongst Executive Directors
have been strengthened through engagement in
Communities of Practice/utilizing CoP approach
• 1/4 of Executive Directors who engage in pilot CoP
approaches in year 1 will be champions of the approach (as
defined by strong belief in the approach & tangible evidence
of impact as a result)
• 90% of pilot participants view them as a meaningful and
powerful learning approach/lever.
Q2 • 2-3 pilot participants will be champions of the approach (as
defined by strong belief in the approach and tangible
evidence of impact as a result)
• 10 pilot participants will view them as a meaningful and
powerful learning approach/lever
Individual & Collective
Impact
Vision of What is Possible:
Communities of Practice (CoPs) will
unleash powerful collective leadership in
ways that are disorienting to current
frameworks; truly pushing the broader
education reform community beyond
current models, ushering in a new era in
education reform that creates new and
important frameworks so much so that
our organization and student outcomes
defy what we think is possible in such
unexpected ways that respected business
publications (such as The Harvard Business
Review), national Media, and
documentarians highlight/feature our
team’s work/impact in our communities
and across the nation.
.

7. Communities of Practice:
Thought Leadership
Year 3 25% of Executive Directors who are champions of Communities of
Practice (meaning that they deeply believe in the approach and have
tangible evidence of impact in their regions) are viewed as powerful
thought leaders within the broader organization, local community, and
also the education reform community (as evidenced by a variety of
qualitative and quantitative measures).
Year 1 • We have an intuitive knowledge management system in place
(ideally in collaboration with a broader team) capturing the new
knowledge that is being developed in each Community of Practice
and working group that is embracing a Community of Practice
approach
• We have identified 3-4 initial CoP pilot participants who are
energized by thought leadership, and have supported an
urgent/critical focus of their regional efforts by utilizing a CoP
approach.
• We have identified 1-2 collaborations across the Strategy &
Engagement team that will simultaneously strengthen CoP/other
work stream impact on thought leadership/regional impact and
have operationalized the learning cycle taking place between the
work streams and regional leadership.
Q2 • We have developed a clear understanding of current/in the works
knowledge management systems and have aligned how we
capture impact to the strategic direction of knowledge
management
• At least one executive director who is energized by thought
leadership, and has an urgent/critical focus of his/her regional
efforts will raise his/her hand to engage more intensively to pilot a
CoP approach within his/her region
Thought Leadership
Vision of What is Possible:
Communities of Practice (CoPs) will
generate significant thought leadership
relevant to the broader organization,
local community, and education reform
community, by leveraging the
diverse/unique perspectives,
experiences, regional contexts, and
ideas of Executive Directors in service
to our collective mission.

8. Communities of Practice:
Diversity & Inclusiveness
Powerful Learning
Year 3 • Executive Directors will be viewed as visionary and strategic
cultural leaders within the organization and also externally in their
communities.
• We have powerful thought leadership coming from Communities
of Practice (CoPs) that feeds back into, and is informed by, the
learning cycle of the broader organization by fueling powerful
reflections and strategies from on the ground leadership
experiences of Executive Directors.
Year 1 • We have explored and captured the learning from several
Community of Practice approaches to the Diversity & Inclusiveness
work at the Executive Director leadership level, including at least
one CoP focused on D&I challenges of practice that Executive
Directors experience and grapple with, and at least one affinity-
based CoP focused on a shared leadership challenge of practice.
• We have documented the best practices and challenges of 1-2
regions attempting to strengthen clarity and impact in Diversity &
Inclusiveness approach & practice.
Q2 • We have identified 2-3 regions attempting to strengthen clarity
and impact in Diversity & Inclusiveness approach & practice where
Executive Directors have elevated and prioritized Diversity &
Inclusiveness in their regional vision and strategic planning process
and will partner with the Executive Director to leverage the CoP
approach to support their regional vision for D&I.
• We establish connections across other teams to fully explore what
a learning cycle could and should be as it specifically relates to a
Communities of Practices approach that focuses in on Diversity &
Inclusiveness learning and development.
Diversity &
Inclusiveness
Vision of What is Possible:
Teach For America Executive Directors
will be perceived as visionary and
strategic cultural leaders within the
organization and also externally in their
local communities.