News : TLC: V-S appoints five instructional coaches

The Vinton-Shellsburg School district will begin a new program in the 2015-16 school year that helps provide teachers/mentors to other VS instructors.

Several teachers will be re-assigned to the role of "instructional coaches" as part of the state-funded Teacher Leadership and Compensation Program. This program provides funding to districts for these positions. Four V-S teachers who will begin this new duty in August are Tilford 4th grade teacher Marty Annis, Whitney Bowen, high school ag instructor Louise Fleming (who will continue to serve as FFA advisor) and elementary teacher/librarian Allison Gates. Jodi Hacker will also continue in her role as an instructional coach.

The Iowa Department of Education offers this description of the duties of an instructional coach: "Instructional coaches provide additional guidance in one or more aspects of the teaching profession to teachers. Instructional coaching shall include detailed preliminary discussions as to areas in which the teachers being coached desire to improve; formulation of an action plan to bring about such improvement; in-class supervision by the instructional coach; post-class discussion of strengths, weaknesses, and strategies for improvement; and dialog between the instructional coach and students and school officials regarding the teachers being coached. An instructional coach shall coordinate instructional coaching activities relating to training and professional development with an area education agency where appropriate."

The school board approved the personnel changes regarding those five instructional coaches during Monday's meeting.

Superintendent Mary Jo Hainstock gave the following summary of the TLC program:

During the 2013 legislative session, the Governor proposed some sweeping changes in education. One piece that was approved included support for teacher-leaders through the Teacher Leadership and Compensation Program. The legislation approved $50 million dollars for each of the next three years to support the implementation of TLC plans in districts that served 1/3 of the students across the state in each of the three years; the first two years it would be through a competitive grant basis and then it would be part of a school district’s regular funding.

The state’s goals include:

1. Attract able and 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 by developing and supporting opportunities for teachers in schools and school districts statewide to learn from each other.
4. Reward professional growth and effective teaching by providing pathways for career opportunities that come with increased leadership responsibilities and involve increased compensation.
5. Improve student achievement by strengthening instruction.

Thirty-nine districts were approved to implement their plan for the 2014-15 school year. An additional 76 have been approved for the 2015-16 school year; Vinton-Shellsburg is one of those districts.

Every district that participates agrees to five “must haves”. They include:

· Minimum Salary of $33,500 – All full-time teachers must earn a minimum of $33,500 per year.

· Improved Entry into the Profession – The district must provide additional coaching, mentoring and opportunities for observing exceptional instructional practice for all new teachers.

· Differentiated, Multiple and Meaningful Teacher Leadership Roles – The roles must be different than what initial teachers or career teachers have; they must include additional contract days with compensation; and the district must demonstrate a good-faith effort to include at least 25% of all teachers (but cannot include 100%).

· Rigorous Selection Process for Leadership Roles – There must be a process in place that includes selection criteria, a selection process with an equal number of teachers and administrators, an annual review of assignment (i.e. the position is not guaranteed every year); teachers selected must have at least three years of teaching experience and at least one year of experience in the school district.

· Aligned Professional Development – There must be PD that is aligned with the Iowa Professional Development Model and every building in the district must be doing something similar.

The Vinton-Shellsburg plan highlighted the need to focus on literacy, numeracy and engagement across all grade levels. The plan includes having Instructional Coaches at every building. These individuals will support the professional development at each level plus how it is being implemented in every classroom. We will also compensate teacher-leaders who serve as mentors, who serve on the Building Leadership Teams, who serve as Data Team Leaders or who serve on our Curriculum Alignment Team.

The other thing to emphasize is that 100% of the money must go towards salaries, paying for additional days, or training for the teacher leaders. None of the funds can be used to support traditional classroom teachers, purchasing student books or computers, etc.