Cedar Rapids team selected for national education program

By Kiran Sood, We Create Here

CEDAR RAPIDS - A team led by district superintendent David Benson and Education Association President Tania Johnson has been named to the NEA Foundation Institute for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.

The team is one of only four nationwide. Other teams hail from Aurora, Colo.; Fall River, Mass.; and Berkshire Hills, Mass,

The four teams will take part in a two-year program designed to tackle 'some of the most pressing issues in public education,” according to a release from the foundation.

Staff and paid coaches provide technical assistance and data-based feedback to the teams, in support of their joint reform work.

'Teacher leadership is a big topic across the nation,” Johnson said. 'We believe that in helping our teachers be able to take on leadership roles, that is going to increase student achievement and increase the effectiveness of the teachers that are in the classroom.”

Teacher leaders who are coaches, or instructional design strategists, are at the elementary, middle and high schools in the district.

Strategists go into classrooms, conduct a pre-observation meeting and co-planning session with the teacher and then go in and observe for a specific strategy, Johnson said.

After that, teachers talk through the lessons to determine what could be improved on.

'What we've found is, that opportunity to talk through your lesson and talk through your teaching with a fellow teacher is really a great way to improve the effectiveness of your teaching,” Johnson said.

The Cedar Rapids team was selected because of 'their use of well-defined processes to solve tough problems collaboratively, always including a re-evaluation of programs, and their effectiveness,” according to the release.

Over the next year, the Cedar Rapids union-district team will study the implementation of its teacher leader program to learn how it can best contribute to enhanced instructional programs for students.

'I'm hoping to see teachers giving us research-based feedback that their instructional practice has changed, and that they believe their instructional practice improved,” said Dave Benson, Cedar Rapids Community School District superintendent. 'We hope to be able to see that our student performances is improving.”