It was the district’s goal that this increased capacity would cultivate a shared responsibility for English language learners (ELLs), students with disabilities (SWD), and other identified subgroups, as a means to close gaps in academic achievement.  The district focused significant efforts through STLE 1 on strengthening the quality of the district’s educators by engaging them in professional learning, emphasizing research-based best practices.  The professional development plan, implemented in collaboration with the Bank Street College of Education and several leading educational experts, includes embedded coaching and training on the Response to Intervention Model (RtI), the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) and best practices in instructional technology.  Teachers and leaders have received extensive training on the integration of college and career ready standards in the development of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs), and creating authentic performance-based assessments.  In addition, Ossining expanded its principal career ladder pathways under the STLE 1 grant to include a Lead Principal and a Leadership Candidate position.  Lead Principals, Highly Effective principals, as determined by Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR), remain in their role as principal of a high-needs school and mentor, coach, and provide professional development to Novice Principals, administrative interns, and Leadership Candidates.  The Leadership Candidate position is designed to support and place candidates from within the district in leadership positions in partnership with the Future School Leaders Academy at Bank Street College of Education.  This partnership equips candidates with the broad-based school leadership skills and competencies needed for administrative roles.

Using the STLE 2 grant, Ossining added three additional roles to its teacher career ladder pathways, including a Professional Learning Associate, an Instructional Coach, and Teacher Coordinators.  The district also added two additional roles to its principal career ladder pathways, including an Instructional Leader to the Community and an Instructional Leader to Staff.  The Professional Learning Associate position provides an opportunity for novice teachers to collaborate with an experienced educator as they refine their teaching skills and begin to develop their teacher leadership capacity. Instructional Coaches, serving in a capacity that was previously successful in the district, provide embedded coaching in K-12 classrooms as well as work on curriculum modules and the integration of college and career ready standards. Teacher coordinators provide embedded coaching to their colleagues in science and world languages. The Instructional Leader to the Community and Staff positions allow district principals an opportunity to share their experience and skill with novice educators and community members.

Ossining’s teacher and principal leaders in career ladder pathways are having a positive impact on teaching and learning across the district.  In particular, all Leadership Candidates that graduated from the Future School Leaders Academy at Bank Street College of Education have been retained in administrative positions as a result of their participation in the program.  Once they transitioned into their new positions in the district, they received training and mentoring from a Lead Principal.  The districts career ladder pathways model has proved to be an effective system for developing the capacity of internal candidates for school leadership. 

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