 TLC District Profiles
I recently had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours in Johnston Community School District. I had an excellent conversation with Patrick Kearney, Teacher Leader District Facilitator, as he shared with me Johnston’s TLC design and structure.
Hearing all the good work happening in Johnston I chose to focus this District Profile on The Work of the TLC Site Committee.
Johnston’s TLC Site Committee
One question we hear a lot from LEAs across the state is “How are other districts using their TLC Site Based Committee to guide the district implementation of TLC?” Patrick shared the work of their Site Based Committee.
The TLC Site Committee was established as part of the state Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) grant that the district first received in 2014. The original Johnston grant document called for the formation of a Site Committee to oversee the first rounds of hiring teacher leaders in the district. The grant also charged the Site Committee with evaluating the implementation of the plan and to adjust the plan as needed. A section of part 5 of their grant reads, “The Site Committee will ensure the work teacher leaders are engaging in is resulting in instructional improvement throughout the district, ultimately resulting in improved student learning and achievement.”
The Site Committee meets twice each month to continue to implement, review, and evaluate the work of the grant. Among the responsibilities of the Site Committee are:
1) Collect and monitor qualitative and quantitative data that will inform decision making regarding the grant
2) Gather and evaluate data and feedback from staff regarding the grant
3) Ensure that grant resources align with areas of district focus
4) Review the grant goals and offer recommendations for improvement
5) Support the recruitment and retention of outstanding teacher leaders
The Johnston TLC Site Committee is made up of eight members. There are four administrators and four teachers. The four administrators include the Executive Director of Teaching, Learning, and Innovation, the Executive Director of Human Resources, one elementary school principal, and one secondary principal. The Executive Director of Human Resources assigns the principals. The four teacher members include one elementary teacher, one middle school teacher, one high school teacher, and the Facilitator of the TLC program. The Johnston Education Association, in consultation with the TLC Facilitator, selects the teacher members annually.
The role of Teacher Leader Facilitator was added to their TLC plan beginning with the 2016-2017 school year. This role has taken on the majority of the program management including budget oversite, completion of reporting requirements and support of professional development. This has enable the Site Committee to focus on the above responsibilities as TLC is implemented throughout the district.
Johnston CSD also has a TCL Advisory Team. The role of the TLC Advisory Team is to gather input from all staff regarding the TLC implementation as well as to serve in an advisory role to the TLC Site Committee. The Advisory Team meets at least twice annually to review the TLC plan, provide suggestions for improvement, and review suggested revisions to the TLC plan from the Site Committee.
Members include all building principals, all members of the Site Committee, and teacher representatives from all buildings (including a mix of Teacher Leader and non-Teacher Leader members).
Members of the Advisory Team gather input from their building’s staff regarding TLC implementation. Members of the team share input they receive from their building and represent the interests of their colleagues. Any revisions to the TLC plan will be presented to the Advisory Team for input.
Other LEAs might consider having an Advisory Team or use another team that currently exists in the district to serve as a broader advisory group to the Site Committee
Related Resource:
HF 215 Sec. 70
4. The school board shall appoint a site-based review council for the district’s attendance centers. Attendance centers may share a site-based review council if the appointments meet the requirements specified in paragraph “a”.
a. Each council shall be comprised of equal numbers of teachers and administrators.
b. The council shall accept and review applications submitted to the school’s or the school district’s administration for assignment or reassignment in a teacher leadership role, and shall make recommendations regarding the applications to the superintendent of the school district. In developing recommendations, the council shall utilize measures of teacher effectiveness and professional growth, consider the needs of the school district, and review the performance and professional development of the applicants. Any teacher recommended for assignment or reassignment in a teacher leadership role shall have demonstrated to the council’s satisfaction competency on the Iowa teaching standards as set forth in section 284.3.
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