TLC grant creates exciting opportunity to share data

Many discussions were held over the last several years about a state-funded program and how it would impact the Newton Community School District.

With the Teacher Leadership and Compensation Grant coming to fruition for Newton schools in 2016-17, in terms of new position titles and a new system in place, there is optimism the program will create positive opportunities for students and, in turn, students.

Longtime social studies teacher Mark Burnett is both an instructional coach and the TLC program coordinator for the district. He’s also one of eight veteran educators in the district who are full-time instructional coaches this year, thanks in part to TLC funding approved by both the state legislature and Gov. Terry Branstad.

Deb Rose led a committee that spent more than a year putting together a grant proposal submitted to the Iowa Department of Education last fall. The Newton proposal was approved, along with 96 other districts, bringing the total number of Iowa districts in the TLC system to 295 or 88 percent of the state’s districts.

The Department of Education defines TLC as a system that “rewards effective teachers with leadership opportunities and higher pay, attracts promising new teachers with competitive starting salaries and more support and fosters greater collaboration for all teachers to learn from each other.”

The Newton team of coaches receive a stipend for their roles, as do the educators who are among the district’s 10 direct instructional leaders, or DILs, three building instructional leaders, or BILs, and 22 mentor teachers. All of the educators in the district will receive release days in which to meet and collaborate with other teachers and TLC team leaders.

Burnett said some of how TLC will look is still taking shape, as the leadership personnel haven’t held enough meetings yet this school year to know how the collaboration is going. Special meetings and professional development days will both be utilized for TLC collaboration.

Burnett said the term “coach,” as it’s used within the TLC model, is not so much a director giving instructions as it is a collaborator.

“When kids see teachers cooperate and see teamwork between teachers and administration, they see positive relationships,” Burnett said. “One of the many elements is to watch each other in action. We spend so much time in our own classrooms, we don’t get to see how other teachers teach. This allows me to go teach a teacher’s class for 20 minutes or so, so they can go observe someone else.”

The program allows teachers to share their best practices with each other in new ways and to use data locally without waiting for it to be sorted out at the state or national level.

“If parents want to know the benefits of what’s going on here, it’s a funnel of ideas going that help the teachers reach the students,” Burnett said. “To me, it’s about getting more for the students than it is getting more out of the students.”

Burnett spoke at a recent NCSD board meeting about the grant program, with some jokes made about BILs and DILs and the myriad of acronyms involved. However, Burnett made a point that the program will allow teachers of more varied experience levels to share teaching ideas in new ways.

Burnett has reasons to believe the TLC program will continue to be funded in future state budget cycles. Branstad and many legislators have long supported the concept.

“This is something the governor wants to keep going,” Burnett said. “The positive feedback is such that I’m very confident it will be funded again.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com