In this article, we describe the implementation of a teacher leader program at the University of Northern Iowa designed specifically to address the needs of a nearby urban school district (i.e., to increase their school leadership, to complement district-wide initiatives in assessing and improving instruction, and to close the minority-achievement gap). The objectives of the program were to cultivate teacher leaders who could foster professional learning communities in their school, engage their peers in continual school improvement, and lead others in implementing and evaluating program improvements. In this article, we discuss the purpose and rationale for teacher leader programs; the nature of teacher leadership; key features of the program, including job-embedded program structure, inquiry-based assignments, and collaborative problem solving; and the design for program evaluation.