To drive student success, cultivate teacher leaders |
On Board Online • February 9, 2015
By Merryl Tisch
Chancellor, Board of Regents
New York State has some of the best teachers in the country. However, for far too long, those best teachers haven't had the opportunity to share their talents and experience with their colleagues.
In New York, we're changing that with a bold initiative to energize and empower our very best educators, with the ultimate goal of increasing student achievement.
Schools improve when experienced and highly effective teachers share their knowledge with colleagues and help administrators ensure that professional development is addressing the right topics. Since 2011, the Board of Regents has encouraged that kind of collaboration through a grant program called Strengthening Teacher and Leader Effectiveness (STLE). STLE is a labor-management partnership that has committed $83 million in federal funds to transform practice across more than a third of the state's school districts.
These high-needs districts have been focused on teacher preparation, recruitment, professional growth and retention to ensure students have equitable access to the most effective teachers and principals. More than 42,000 teachers and 1,000 principals in 220 school districts have participated to date. We are already seeing results. The most effective educators are addressing the most pressing student and staff needs by modeling best practices, exchanging information, mentoring and coaching their colleagues, and leading conversations about student learning and classroom instruction.
At the Huntington Union Free School District on Long Island, two rounds of the STLE grants have been used to identify instructional strengths and weaknesses, leading to tailored peer coaching and embedded professional development. Recently two of my colleagues on the Board of Regents and two State Education Department administrators visited the district and heard school board members express their strong support of the work done through Huntington's STLE grant.
In Huntington, the money has been used to support "Instructional Focus Walks." Teacher leaders and administrators visit classrooms, observe and give feedback to teachers. Donna Moro, a Huntington teacher leader, told Regents Roger Tilles and Lester Young, Jr. that Focus Walks have brought instructional consistency from classroom-to-classroom. Jim Polansky, Huntington superintendent, told the Regents that Focus Walks have led to great success by using the feedback to alter practices, improving student performance and helping students generate a love of learning across different settings. To learn more about Focus Walks, visit http://is.gd/5GeKpp.
At the other end of the state, the Greece Central School District has been a recipient of three rounds of STLE grants. There, more than 30 teacher leaders are focused on closing achievement gaps by serving as coaches to their peers and using model classrooms to demonstrate Common Core implementation. Teacher leaders also support implementation of Annual Professional Performance Reviews and serve as data coaches throughout the district. Already, the schools in Greece are seeing improved student achievement across multiple measures.
Teacher leader Chris Marino said that before the grants, he worked down the road or down the hall from colleagues for 20 years with little or no interaction. But in the past two years, Marino says teachers across the district are sharing what works. For a video of STLE in action in Greece, visit http://is.gd/urukXS.
The flexibility built into STLE allows districts to use grant funds to best meet local needs. Although approaches vary from district to district, recipients of STLE grants across the state report positive results. In Wayne County's Williamson Central School District, a recipient of two STLE awards, graduation rates have risen 8 percent. Graduation rates for students with disabilities increased by 14 percent and graduation rates for economically disadvantaged students increased by 15 percent in 2013-14.
In the North Syracuse School District, another STLE grant recipient, English language learners in grades 3-8 have increased proficiency on the 2013-14 NYS English language exam by 13 percent.
When teachers collaborate, students invariably benefit. Teacher leaders are creating a culture of high expectations with enduring initiatives. Perhaps most important, this is not a "one and done" program; STLE programs won't peter out when the grant period ends. As part of the application process, districts must build in a sustainability plan that outlasts the grant, so that new practices become part of the normal fabric of district life.
In our state education aid proposal, the Regents requested $80 million in the state budget for new STLE funding to keep this important work growing. If your district has received a STLE grant, or would like to, I urge you and your school board to support this request.
The Board of Regents is always working toward the same goal: helping our students do better. By helping districts support teacher leaders and allowing them to share their knowledge and expertise with their colleagues, STLE grants are doing just that. For more on the STLE grant program, see www.engageny.org/resource/what-is-a-teacher-leader.