or scrambling to find daily coverage, we would create a cadre of education leaders from a pool of people with bachelor’s degrees from schools of education and other programs who could serve in a school full-time, whether or not that school needed coverage. When the program began, we had three goals:
• Ensure that high-quality instruction continued when a teacher was absent, whether for a day or a month.
• Create a development pipeline so that educators can get more training before taking over a classroom. This approach would also give us a qualified pool of candidates who would compose a feeder system with established connections to the district.
• Diversify the teacher pipeline by recruiting our own community members.
With these goals in mind, we designed the Warrior
Teaching Fellowship as a 10-month (August to June) per-diem position. Unlike the traditional substitute teaching approach, fellows are assigned to work in one school every day for the entire academic year.
Unlike the traditional substitute teaching approach, fellows are assigned to work in one school every day for the entire academic year.
Fellows don’t answer phones or push papers; they’re always student-focused, student-centered, or student- facing. The specifics of what a fellow does on any given day may vary; however, the fellow, the school, and the students always have a sense of consistency. When a teacher is absent, a fellow’s first priority is maintaining quality instruction, not just being in the room to “cover” the class. The arrangement is not only effective for unplanned absences, it also makes planning for long-term coverage easier. The traditional teacher can plan and coordinate with the fellow in advance so stu- dent learning continues at the same level. When the fellows aren’t facilitating instruction for an absent teacher, they provide some form of student- centered support, whether it’s serving as an instructional aide, facilitating a small-group assignment, co-teaching, or even observing instructional practices. We currently employ about 25 fellows who can choose a pay rate of $195 per day with individual medi- cal coverage or $225 per day without medical coverage.
asbointl.org
Although we compensate them to participate in after- school activities and professional development, we know many can’t commit time beyond the bell because of other jobs or family responsibilities; fellows are only expected to be at the school from bell to bell. We have completely removed the term “substitute teacher” from the Central Falls lexicon. We call all of our teachers, including fellows or substitutes, “educa- tors.” No matter their position, they’re educating our students, and they deserve the respect that should come with that.
Changing the language in our district was a priority for us in the first year of the Warrior Teaching Fellow- ship. We knew that for this program to be successful, we had to change the culture around substitute teach- ing. It wouldn’t matter how good the fellows were if the traditional classroom teachers didn’t trust them to lead their classes.
That change in culture was the toughest part of our first year, but it was necessary. The wording alone didn’t change the culture, but it certainly helped set the stage for our district’s cultural shift.
Two Pathways Emerge
When the Warrior Teaching Fellowship began in 2016, we planned to hire about 15 fellows and assumed that we would get no more than 20 applications. When we ended up with 89, I knew we were on to something. Although the program’s only tangible requirement is a bachelor’s degree, we expected most applicants to be graduates of schools of education looking for a little more training before taking over a classroom of their own. However, when we broke down the applicant pool, we found that about half had certifications. As a result, two different but complementary pathways emerged. Fellows who have a teaching certification or who graduated from a school of education usually view the fellowship as an opportunity to build their skills, get more experience in the classroom, and perhaps pursue a more specialized certification.
The fellowship also created a platform for Central Falls’ diverse community members who, without a cer- tification or a background in education, want to launch their own careers in the classroom. Despite our small geographic size, we have about 20,000 residents, many of whom speak Spanish, Portuguese, Cape Verdean Cre- ole, Haitian Creole, or French Creole. Many of these bilingual and trilingual individuals have industry exper- tise but are interested in moving into education. These Central Falls residents have shared experiences with our students. They may be parents of students or even alumni. Despite the value they can offer the stu- dents, the traditional system creates too many barriers for them to enter the classroom.
SCHOOL BUSINESS AFFAIRS | APRIL 2022 9
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
