Iowa has become the first state to create a teacher leadership system designed to boost student achievement, increase teaching expertise and raise the status of the teaching profession.
Teachers taking on leadership roles to improve classroom instruction and raise student achievement was a key piece of the Legislature’s 2013 Education Reform. This new effort allows teachers to work in collaboration with colleagues and learn from each other instead of operating in isolation in their classrooms.
The overriding philosophy of the system is that to improve student learning, you must improve the instruction students receive each day. There is no better way to do this than to empower our best teachers to lead the effort. The system rewards effective teachers with leadership opportunities and higher pay, attracts promising new teachers with competitive starting salaries, and fosters greater collaboration for all teachers to learn from each other.
Teacher leadership systems are being phased in over three years, with the goal of all Iowa school districts participating on a voluntary basis by 2016-17. The Iowa Legislature approved $50 million for the first year of implementation. The second year will see a $100 million investment and $150 million for the third year, enabling all districts to participate if they choose. The funding will become part of the school aid formula that determines how much state money schools receive each year.
During a recent update on the teacher leader system, legislators learned that schools don’t want to trade increased investments in teacher leadership for basic school aid. The teacher leadership program will help make the classroom experience the best it can be, but it must have a strong school foundation to build upon.
One Iowa district would have to make about $300,000 in cuts under the House bill to increase school funding by only 1.25 percent. That would significantly diminish the impact of the $340,000 they’ll receive in teacher leader grants.
Teacher and principal leadership teams are the key to supporting more complex efforts to prepare students to complete in a global, knowledge-based economy. Here are the Iowa school districts that have been chosen to do just that:
2014-2015 Teacher Leader School Districts (39)
Benton
Bettendorf
Burlington
Cedar Rapids
Colo-NESCO
Council Bluffs
Davenport
Delwood
Dubuque
Earlham
East Marshall
East Union
Gilbert
Greene County
Hudson
Humboldt (w/Twin Rivers)
Johnston
Le Mars
Linn-Mar
Marshalltown
Mount Pleasant
Muscatine
North Polk
Norwalk
Oelwein
Ottumwa
Panorama
Pella
Rock Valley
Roland-Story
Saydel
Sioux City
Southeast Polk
Twin Rivers (w/Humboldt)
Van Meter
Waterloo
West Des Moines
Western Dubuque
Winterset
2015-16 Teacher Leader School Districts (74)
Albia
Alden (w/Iowa Falls)
Ames
Andrew
Ankeny
Atlantic
Audubon
Baxter
Boone
CAL
Cardinal
Carlisle
Carroll
Center Point-Urbana
Central Decatur
Central DeWitt (Clinton)
Central Lyon
Chariton
Clay Central-Everly
Clear Creek-Amana
Clinton
College
Collins-Maxwell
Dallas Center-Grimes
Davis County
Decorah
Des Moines
Eastern Allamakee
Emmetsburg
Fairfield
Fort Dodge
Glenwood
Hampton-Dumont
Hinton
Indianola
Iowa City
Iowa Falls (w/Alden)
Iowa Valley
Lewis Central
Maquoketa Valley
MFL MarMac
MOC-Floyd Valley
Monticello
Nevada
New London
Nodaway Valley
North Cedar
North Fayette
North Linn
North Scott
Northeast
Okoboji
Oskaloosa
Pleasant Valley
Red Oak
Solon
Spencer
Springville
Stratford
Tri-County
Union
United
Urbandale
Vinton-Shellsburg
Wapello
Waukee
Waverly-Shell Rock
Wayne
West Branch
West Delaware County
West Monona
Williamsburg
Wilton
Winfield-Mt. Union
2016-17 Teacher Leader School Districts (51)
Adair-Casey (w/Guthrie Center)
Adel-DeSoto-Minburn
Alburnett
Aplington-Parkersburg
Bennett
CAM
Camanche
Cedar Falls
Centerville
Central City
Charter Oak-Ute (w/Maple Valley-Anthon Oto and Schleswig)
Clarke
Clayton Ridge
Danville
Denver
Durant
East Sac County
Edgewood-Colesburg
George-Little Rock
Grinnell-Newburg
Guthrie Center (w/Adair-Casey)
Highland
Independence
Keota
Knoxville
Lawton-Bronson
Lenox
Lisbon
Lone Tree
Maple Valley-Anthon Oto (w/Charter Oak-Ute and Schleswig)
Marion
Mason City
Midland
Mid-Prairie
Moravia (w/Seymour)
North Mahaska
Ogden
Pekin
Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock
Schleswig (w/Charter Oak-Ute and Maple Valley-Anthon Oto)
Seymour (w/Moravia)
Sheldon
Sumner-Fredericksburg
Tipton
Tripoli
Van Buren
Wapsie Valley
Washington
West Hancock
West Liberty
West Lyon