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Iowa invests in teacher leaders

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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

 

 

 


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