Chalkbeat NYC published an article highlighting Maxine Cameron and Latishia Towles, members of the first cohort of NYCLA’s new Teaming Model. Principal Cameron and Assistant Principal Towles are leveraging their complementary skill sets and commitment to collaboration to lead P.S. 013 Roberto Clemente, an elementary school in Brooklyn with a track record of high leadership turnover. Maxine and Latishia both participated in intensive trainings before taking leadership positions that included rigorous coursework, simulated school scenarios, and a residency period learning under an experienced principal. They now benefit from our menu of coaching services, including one-on-one coaching, school leadership team coaching, and specialist coaching in areas like data-driven decision making and improving outcomes for English language learners. Click here to access the full article.
More about the Teaming Model:
Funded in large part by a $3 million U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) grant, the Teaming Model builds on the idea that breaking a school’s “cycle of failure” is highly dependent on the principal plus the strength and capacity of an administrative team.
The Teaming Model has three core components that are critical to its success:
1) Training: Prior to taking on their new leadership roles, the pairs spend an extended period of time outside of their previous classroom or administrative positions, either in training sessions or in a school residency. APP and LAP offer their own highly intensive, multi-week summer programs where participants learn about the rigors, opportunities and challenges of school leadership using authentic school simulations. During the academic year, they partake in residencies with seasoned principals coupled with a blended learning experience, which was launched earlier this month, to support them with online assignments and discussions in between face-to-face sessions.
2) Preparation: Once the leadership teams have been assigned to their schools, they review all available data with the assistance of NYCLA coaches and identify teachers who display deep content knowledge and leadership capacity. This analysis and selection process is in preparation for NYCLA’s two-week summer institute where teamed principals and assistant principals plus teacher leaders analyze needs, identify areas of focus, and delineate roles and responsibilities with clear game plans to jump start the new school year.
3) Support: During the first year on the job, Teaming Model principals are paired with NYCLA coaches, who support all leadership aspects. This coaching is data-driven, standards-based and facilitative, provided by coaches who average 32 years of NYCDOE experience and continually train in new policy and practice. One specific area of focus for coaches and new principals — the monitoring of academic, cultural and operational goals to ensure they remain on track.
It is our goal that this new model of pairing and preparing school leadership teams will prove successful in New York City – our learning laboratory – and will be replicable in other parts of the country.