Yearlong Trainings Culminate in Leadership Credentials, Opportunities to Advance Careers
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Nearly 2,300 educators across the state have started specialized, rigorous training to mentor aspiring teachers, provide curriculum-specific professional development to new and current teachers in their school systems, and implement academic interventions for students in struggling schools. Teachers will continue their training at the 2019 Teacher Leader Summit this week in New Orleans and throughout the 2019-2020 school year, and upon completion, will receive professional credentials to advance their careers.
Of the educators selected to participate in the trainings during the 2019-2020 school year:
- 881 are training to become Mentor Teachers. A Mentor Teacher is a teacher who is prepared to coach and support aspiring teachers participating in yearlong classroom-based residencies or post-baccalaureate preparation programs, or experienced teachers.
- 752 are training to become Content Leaders. A Content Leader is a teacher who is a subject area expert responsible for delivering high-quality professional development aligned with state academic standards to their peers. Professional development is unique to the teacher's subject area and curriculum.
- 640 are training to become Intervention Content Leaders. A newly introduced teacher leadership role, an Intervention Content Leader is a teacher or administrator who implements academic interventions to ensure all students, including those who struggle most, are gaining academic ground alongside their peers. Intervention Content Leaders work in pairs that include one teacher and one administrator.
"In Louisiana, we now have thousands of teachers who have committed to building their expertise and sharing that expertise with fellow teachers through coaching and expert professional development," said State Superintendent John White. "This year marks the launch of the Intervention Content Leader role, which will equip teachers and leaders with tools to support students who have struggled in English and mathematics. These educators are playing a significant role in strengthening Louisiana's teaching profession, and I commend their leadership."
Jefferson Parish Public School System is among the school systems to utilize all three teacher leadership roles in their classrooms.
"A growing body of research is affirming what should be common sense about continuous improvement in education," said Jefferson Parish Public School System Superintendent Dr. Cade Brumley. "When high-quality teachers are given the opportunity to strategically and thoughtfully mentor their peers, professional practices improve and translate to academic gains for kids."
In fall 2017, the Louisiana Department of Education launched a statewide effort to strengthen teachers' skills through access to ongoing professional development that helps aspiring, new and experienced teachers alike. As part of that effort, the state created two new leadership pathways for classroom teachers: Mentor Teachers and Content Leaders.
Only this year was the Intervention Content Leader pathway introduced, aligning with Louisiana's new annual process of identifying struggling schools and requiring them to develop tailored plans for improvement and submit them to the state for approval and funding support. Schools identified as needing "urgent intervention" for academics must employ Intervention Content Leaders as part of their redesign efforts.
Educators in each role are nominated by their school systems to attend in-person training sessions throughout the school year and to receive access to turnkey training materials. The training sessions are currently led by national experts competitively identified by the Department, but starting next year, teacher preparation providers, like colleges and universities and other entities, will carry it forward. The Department is now in the process of selecting the providers. Last week, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) approved Louisiana Tech University as the first provider and will approve additional providers in the fall.
As part of the trainings, participants take multi-part assessments to gauge their mastery of the skills needed to serve in each role. Once the assessments are successfully completed, educators are awarded specialized credentials. The credentials, which were approved by BESE in October 2018 and will start to be distributed this summer, can lead to increased opportunities for teachers seeking to remain in the classroom, as well as for those who hope to move into administrative roles.
To date, 776 educators have participated in the Mentor Teacher training and 614 have participated in the Content Leader training.
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