Elevating teachers and redesigning school leadership

On February 24, leaders from across Houston gathered at the Junior League for a special Place the Ladder event featuring Dr. Ruth Simmons – Holdsworth’s founding board chair – in conversation with Dr. Lindsay Whorton about her new book, “A New School Leadership Architecture.”  

In her book, Lindsay makes the case for a fundamental redesign of how leadership roles are structured and practiced in schools, offering a bold new blueprint to make jobs sustainable and give teachers the coaching and support they need so that students thrive.

At the heart of the conversation were several themes: the need to rethink leadership roles, the growing pressures on principals, the importance of elevating teachers as leaders and the work of honoring the teaching profession.

A “lightning strike” moment

Lindsay shared that when she began writing the book, she imagined it would be a traditional leadership text focused on skill development. Midway through the process, something shifted. 

“I had this realization — my memory of it is kind of like a lightning strike — that so much of what I was asking a principal to do… wasn’t possible in the structure in which principals and assistant principals and teachers operate.” 

Rather than continue down a path that implied leaders simply needed to “work harder,” Lindsay reframed the entire book around a more fundamental question: What if the roles themselves aren’t designed for success?

A job that has become too big for one person

Lindsay pointed to research showing the importance of both teachers and principals in student success. But she also noted how dramatically their roles have changed. 

“We have just piled more and more and more and more onto the plate of the principal over the last 15 to 20 years.” 

At the same time, the composition of the teaching workforce has shifted: 

“Schools are filled with a lot more brand-new teachers today than they were 15, 20 years ago.” 

Those new teachers often enter the classroom with less preparation than in years past. Combined with rising expectations and complex student needs, the traditional principal model no longer fits the realities of modern schools. 

Lindsay put it this way: 

“If you are counting on one principal to be the person who supports and develops and coaches and mentors 20 or 30 or 40 teachers… that’s simply not going to work.”

Sharing leadership and elevating teachers

Because no one person can meet all the needs in a school, Lindsay emphasized the importance of building leadership teams that distribute responsibility. 

“We have to rethink the model of leadership that we use in our schools. We have to share leadership with more people. We have to elevate teachers as leaders.” 

Teachers, she noted, influence nearly every cultural and instructional pattern inside a school. Their leadership is essential. 

“If I could strike a phrase from our vocabulary in education, it would be ‘just a teacher,’” Lindsay said.  

Teachers, she said, have the power to shape how teams collaborate, use data, improve instruction, and solve problems together. Their leadership strengthens both student learning and adult culture.

Raising up the profession

Another theme from the night was the need to challenge how society talks about educators. 

Lindsay shared a simple example: 

“If you’re at a cocktail party… notice your reaction if someone says, ‘I’m going to be a doctor or a lawyer,’ and your reaction if they say, ‘I want to be a teacher.’ That reaction tells us a lot about how we value the work educators do.” 

She reminded the audience that preparing students for the future—especially one shaped by rapid advances in technology—depends on strong teachers. 

“We’re not going to achieve that outcome if we don’t raise up the profession of teaching.”

Holding high expectations while celebrating progress

Even as she acknowledged the real challenges facing schools, Lindsay encouraged leaders to stay grounded in possibility. 

“It’s easy to get cynical about how hard it is to educate all of our kids well… And there is a lot of work to do, but also sparks of potential and sparks of magic that happen in our classrooms.” 

She described Holdsworth’s role this way: 

“We try to hold a really high bar for what can be possible — but also lift up and encourage and celebrate what educators are working to achieve on a daily basis.”