In 2013 the Iowa legislature passed a law establishing the Teacher Leadership and Compensation system. The goals of this legislation were to: 1) Attract promising new teachers by offering competitive starting salaries and offering short-term and long-term professional development and leadership opportunities; 2) Retain effective teachers by providing enhanced career opportunities; 3) Promote collaboration; 4) Reward professional growth and effective teaching by providing pathways for career opportunities that come with increased leadership responsibilities and involve increased compensation; and 5) Improve student achievement by strengthening instruction.
According to the Iowa Department of Education, “the overriding philosophy of the system is multi-pronged, but boils down to this: Improving student learning requires improving the instruction they receive each day. There is no better way to do this than to empower our best teachers to lead the effort.”
A team of teachers, administrators, and representatives from the North Tama community and school board spent nearly a year contemplating and making plans for how a system of teacher leadership could be used to improve student learning in the district. The North Tama team submitted an application last fall, and we learned this spring that the district has been selected to participate in this initiative for the coming year and beyond. In the first year, grant funds will be provided to fund the program; in future years, North Tama’s Teacher Leadership System will be funded through an additional annual per-student allocation from the state.
The additional funding we will receive from this program will primarily be spent on salary and training for teachers who assume new and/or additional roles, designed to help foster collaboration between colleagues as a means of improving student outcomes. Our plan called for the creation of a full-time Student Success Coach position, a full-time Instructional Coach position, several lead teachers, and as many mentors as might be needed to serve new teachers. We have also set aside a portion of these funds for professional development related to the TLC program. It was a requirement of the program (and the TLC law) that those hired for these positions had to have previously been teachers in the district.
Judy Boerm and Susan Johnson have been hired for the two full-time roles in our Teacher Leadership System. Judy will be our Student Success Coach and Susan will be our Instructional Coach. These two teachers will no longer have their own classrooms, as their Teacher Leadership positions are full-time. Their role, in part, is to support teachers throughout the district through collaborative inquiry, analysis of student data, supporting teachers’ professional development, implementation of research-based strategies, and leading district-wide professional development efforts. Judy’s role also will include working with individual students and families as well as teachers to help students who may be at risk of failing or not graduating with their class to find pathways to success.
Our Lead Teachers for the coming year will be Amy Lidgett, Becky Adams, Connie Courbat, Levi LaRue, Lisa Chizek, Kristi Martin, and Vonna Watson. These teachers will assume their Lead Teacher duties while remaining in the classroom full time. They will serve as a point of contact for specific professional development initiatives, and working with the full-time teacher leaders they will provide leadership for district-wide professional development efforts. Their classrooms will be open for teachers to observe the implementation of new strategies or instructional methods, and they will lead teachers in reflective discussions to aid them in their own implementation of new strategies. In addition, they provide an extra layer of support between the teachers and the full-time coaches, to ensure that professional development needs are identified and supported.
Finally, we will have a number of mentors as part of the Teacher Leadership System. The mentors are veteran teachers who agree to support teachers who are new to the profession. They work with the new teachers on many facets of the job, with the intention that they help the new teacher acclimate to the position, allowing them to be successful and, therefore, increasing the likelihood that they will stay in the field long term. New teachers will be assigned mentors for their first two years in the profession.
We have received several questions about having certain teachers being “pulled” from the classroom to assume a teacher leadership role. While no one wants to see an outstanding teacher removed from their classroom, it’s important for us to realize that as Teacher Leaders, these teachers will be able to use their skills and expertise to benefit ALL North Tama students. Remember, these teachers applied to be a Teacher Leader because they felt that moving into a new position would be an advancement for them professionally and an opportunity to have a larger impact.
While the state funding for our Teacher Leadership System will be ongoing, the law requires for all of the Teacher Leadership positions to be one-year appointments. Those in a leadership position can apply to continue in their present role. If they decide to return to the classroom after spending time in a leadership role, we certainly support that and have a policy in place that allows them to do so.
Teacher Leadership represents a significant change in our school system and one that has the potential to significantly impact student learning at North Tama.
Do you have a comment or question about our new Teacher Leadership System? You are welcome to visit my blog at http://redhawksupt.blogspot.com/ where you can read all of my Star Clipper columns and leave comments if you wish. You are also welcome to follow me on Twitter, where my handle is @DavidRobertHill.
