News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Putnam County Schools leaders are working to strengthen teacher collective efficacy skills.
The system is partnering with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET). 9th through 12th-grade Curriculum Supervisor Sharon Anderson said that the goal is to strengthen administrators’ abilities to support their teachers.
“We’re trying to get a sense of the learning loss that has occurred due to COVID,” Anderson said. “We’re trying to get a sense of what our teachers need from us and what our teachers need from our instructional coaches. The more we can fully support our teachers, the more they can fully support our students.”
Anderson said that one of the most important parts of the training so far has been “learning walks” at the middle and high schools. She said the walks provide an opportunity for school leaders and instructional coaches to get direct insight into the learning practices of its teachers and students.
“We’re looking across grade bands, across grade levels,” Anderson said. “Seeing how aligned the instruction is in those classrooms, listening to students and asking students about their learning.”
Anderson said that strengthening the skills of instructional coaches, principals, assistant principals, and other faculty results in an improvement in student learning.
NIET East Team Director Keely Potter said that training will occur throughout the year and will be a combination of both collaborative conversations amongst teachers and instructional coaches as well as time spent in schools.
“There are several different points of engagement throughout the year. There are some specific trainings that are built-in around building teacher collective efficacy and collective leadership. But the trainings are also created and delivered in such a way that the coaches and leaders that are involved in it direct the outcome for the day. It’s very much collaborative and driven by the strengths and the needs that they collectively name out.”
