Investment will support a refresh and expansion of the Teacher Leader Cohort, supporting DC’s most effective teachers and addressing retention gaps
June 23, 2026
Education Forward DC announced a $250,000 investment in School Leader Lab (SLL) to re-imagine and scale its Teacher Leader Cohort (TLC), a professional development program that builds leadership capacity among high-performing teachers and strengthens the conditions that keep them in DC classrooms.
The investment will expand the cohort size to 20-25 participants per year and introduce new program elements including school site visits, peer coaching groups, supervisor engagement, and extended learning labs. Each of these program components are designed in collaboration with teachers and school leaders to maximize impact while keeping educators in front of their students.
“Retaining great teachers is one of the most vital things we can do to set students up for success,” said Bisi Oyedele, CEO of Education Forward DC. “School Leader Lab has built something that teachers want for their own professional development and school leaders want for their teachers. This investment lets SLL go deeper, reach more educators, and share what they’re learning with schools across DC.”
The investment addresses a documented need in DC’s educator workforce. While citywide teacher retention has improved, significant gaps remain. The most recent DC Educator Retention Brief found that Black teachers are more likely to leave the profession, and less likely to stay in their same role at the same school year-to-year. In the 2025-26 school year, DC Public Schools (DCPS) same-school teacher retention rate was eight percentage points higher than it was for public charter schools.
“When great teachers stay, students benefit, school culture strengthens, and entire communities are more stable,” said Erica Beal, Executive Director of School Leader Lab. “The redesigned TLC is intended to build peer connection, leadership growth, and school-level support in order to make teaching in DC sustainable and rewarding.”
The redesigned TLC will run from September 2026 through March 2027, with monthly sessions that include two full-day school visits and five evening learning labs. The program targets at least 90% retention of participants in their schools along with measurable growth in leadership skills and school-specific action plans to improve team conditions and school outcomes. Longitudinal impact analysis will drill down on student-level impact related to academic and social-emotional outcomes.
Beyond the cohort itself, the investment funds support a broader knowledge-sharing initiative. Teachers and principals will be brought together throughout the year to discuss barriers to retention, shape cohort programming, and inform a citywide white paper on teacher retention and a publicly available teacher retention toolkit designed to scale proven strategies across DC.
This investment is part of Education Forward DC’s strategy priority area focused on ensuring DC has strong pipelines of effective, diverse educators and the systems in place to retain them. Through its investments and partnerships, Ed Forward DC aims to double the share of students from low-income households who attend high-performing schools that prepare them for bright futures.
School Leader Lab was founded in 2017 and has been a partner of Education Forward DC since its inception, growing from school leader development into a comprehensive talent development organization serving leaders at every level of DC’s public schools.
About Education Forward DC
Education Forward DC combines strategic grantmaking, hands-on partnerships, and citywide coordination to ensure a great public school for every DC student. Working across both traditional public and public charter schools, Ed Forward DC invests in school quality, develops outstanding leaders and teachers, and advances the policy conditions that make progress possible. Learn more at www.edforwarddc.org.
About School Leader Lab
School Leader Lab develops impactful and committed traditional public and public charter school leaders across Washington, DC through practice-based professional development cohorts for school leaders, assistant principals, teacher leaders, and executive leaders. Learn more at www.schoolleaderlab.org.
