Skip to main content

St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES-led Consortium

 STLE | Program Summary Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and local unions collaborated to develop programs that focus on various elements of a strategically planned Teacher and Leader Effectiveness (TLE) Continuum, including preparation, recruitment and placement, induction and mentoring, evaluation, ongoing professional development/professional growth, performance management and career ladder pathways. | Focus & ImpactEach Local Education Agency (LEA) has identified measurable goals and outcomes aligned with their grant programs. Quantitative and qualitative data is meant to communicate the value and impact of this work by highlighting the reach of teacher and principal leaders, cost and time savings, as well as indicate the progress made towards the specific student achievement and talent management needs identified by each LEA. Program evaluation is ongoing; LEAs will continue to monitor impact through and beyond the grant period to better understand correlations between various district and building initiatives, the work of teacher and principal leaders, and the impact on student access and achievement.> | Career Ladder PathwaysEach LEA participating in STLE 2 or 3 was required to develop and implement or enhance career ladder pathways rooted in sound implementation of their evaluation systems. Career ladder pathways were based on a minimum of three “rungs” including: novice, professional, and leader levels that were associated with specific roles, responsibilities, and optional district-defined compensation incentives. | Sharing the WorkThe Strengthening Teacher and Leader Effectiveness (STLE) grant has resulted in the development and sharing of a wide variety of tools, tips, and resources. Local Education Agencies (LEAs) have been highlighted for their work through various media outlets and NYSED videos, and have also created tools and resources that are available to the field.

STLE Cohort

STLE 2 (October 1, 2013 – June 30, 2015)
STLE-D (November 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015)

Total STLE Award

$2,233,725

District Links

Student and Staff Snaphot
State-Approved APPR Plan
District Website
Contact for More Information

STLE Program Summary   Local Education Agencies(LEAs) and local unions collaborated to develop programs that focus on various elements of a strategically planned Teacher and Leader Effectiveness (TLE) Continuum, including preparation, recruitment and placement, induction and mentoring, evaluation, ongoing professional development/professional growth, performance management and career ladder pathways.

Continuum Graphic

This graphic represents the Teacher and Leader Effectiveness (TLE) continuum recommended by the New York State Education Department.

Program Summary

St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES is the STLE 2 grant lead for a consortium of 14 school districts, as well as the STLE-D grant lead for a consortium of 16 component school districts. The overarching goals of St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES’ STLE 2 grant were to create a network of Teacher Leaders to help district colleagues fully implement college and career readiness standards and evidence-based instruction, as well as to create a network of Principal Leaders to help regional colleagues support the implementation of college and career readiness  standards, evidence-based instruction, and effective teacher evaluations in their respective districts. St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES also set out to provide professional development for Teacher and Principal Leaders to guide in support of novice teachers and leaders throughout the region. With STLE-D, St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES sought to extend the reach of the most effective principals and prospective principals (teacher leaders) through modeling specific approaches to the development, implementation, and support of TLE system initiatives.

[ Read more... ]

The consortium is comprised of small districts that have few administrators; ranging from one principal to six principals. Principals have had few opportunities to reach out to their principal counterparts as a means for professional growth.  The position of Principal Leader has helped create a regional support group for novice and professional principals.  The Principal Leaders served as mentors to new, developing or ineffective principals, organized school visits to illustrate effective curriculum implementation, teacher effectiveness, and evidence based instruction, participated in check and connect sessions with new principals, and served on a Regional Leadership Professional Development Committee, to determine the professional development needed for regional administrators, such as in the areas of college and career ready standards implementation, teacher effectiveness, and evidence based instruction.  

District Teacher Leaders were selected in each district PK-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 for both math and Literacy, as well as science, social studies and literacy in other technical subjects. Teacher Leaders received a minimum of 80 hours of college and career readiness standards, evidence based instruction, and leadership training over the two year grant period. This training has included some turnkey professional development for their grade level or subject band. Teacher Leaders facilitated curriculum planning for teachers in their grade level or subject band and worked with other district teacher leaders and building administrators to ensure consistency between grade level or subject bands. Regional Teacher Leaders have become teachers on special assignment with the grant providing a substitute teacher for the year.  Regional Teacher Leaders received professional development to help them assist teacher leaders and administrators implementing the Regents Reform Agenda, including support of the change process using structures such as Professional Learning Communities.

 

The St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES-led consortium has the following component districts in STLE 2: 

Canton CSD, Clifton-Fine CSD, Gouverneur CSD, Hammond CSD, Harrisville CSD, Hermon-DeKalb CSD, Heuvelton CSD, Lisbon CSD, Madrid-Waddington CSD, Massena CSD, Morristown CSD, Norwood-Norfolk CSD, Parishville-Hopkinton CSD, Potsdam CSD

The St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES-led consortium has the following component districts in STLE-D: 

Brasher Falls CSD, Clifton-Fine CSD, Colton-Pierrepont CSD, Edwards-Knox CSD, Gouverneur CSD, Hammond CSD, Harrisville CSD, Hermon-DeKalb CSD, Lisbon CSD, Madrid-Waddington CSD, Massena CSD, Morristown CSD, Norwood-Norfolk CSD, Ogdensburg CSD, Parishville-Hopkinton CSD, Potsdam CSD

[ Read less... ]

Promising Practice

  • All levels of the teacher career ladder pathway are focused on turn-key training and disseminating best practices across a wide region, marshalling resources for a large number of small, rural districts to increase the sphere of impact of the most effective educators.
  • Developed a robust set of professional development offerings for teachers and principal leaders that will serve as a strong foundation for the work to be accomplished.

Sustainability

The St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES, along with the component district’s superintendents and business officials are preparing the component districts financially to be able to sustain programs and personnel related to career ladder pathways through the general budget, by searching for additional grant funds and possibly through shared services with a BOCES Co-Service Agreement.

[ Back to Top ]

STLE Areas of Focus and Impact   Each Local Educational Agency (LEA) has identified measurable goals and outcomes aligned with their grant programs. Quantitative and qualitative data is meant to communicate the value and impact of this work by highlighting the reach of teacher and principal leaders, cost and time savings, as well as indicate the progress made towards the specific student achievement and talent management needs identified by each LEA. Program evaluation is ongoing; LEAs will continue to monitor impact through and beyond the grant period to better understand correlations between various district and building initiatives, the work of teacher and principal leaders, and the impact on student access and achievement.

This graphic represents the five common talent management challenges. LEAs may address one or more of the five common talent management challenges of preparing, recruiting, developing, retaining and providing equitable access to the most effective educators using career ladder pathways.

Reach

  • 7 Regional Teacher Leaders directly impact 114 District Teacher Leaders, which impact 828 teachers, which impact 11,702 students.
  • 4 Regional Principal Leaders directly impact 26 principals, 3 assistant principals and 949 teachers, which impact 11,702 students.

Areas of Focus

The St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES set out to address the common talent management challenges of  developing, retaining, and providing equitable access to the most effective educators through their career ladder pathway model.

Common Talent Management Challenges

Common Talent Management Challenge Local Educational Agency (LEA) Efforts
Development

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have been established in the component school districts in grades PK-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 for both math and ELA.  Additionally various configurations of PLCs were established in the other subject areas with a focus on integrating literacy.  The Regional Teacher Leaders (RTLs) have thus far facilitated four days of curriculum mapping work time with the District Teacher Leaders (DTLs); two days in the summer of 2014 and two follow up days in the fall of 2014.  These work days focused on the creation of sample taught curriculum maps for the module units, as well as deconstructing the standards and prioritized the learning targets for each unit.  Additionally resources were compiled and assessments were revised or created.   Regional Principal Leaders have been trained in the Instructional Rounds Process and will help to improve student performance through this school-wide improvement process. 
Retention

Prior to the STLE grants, official career ladder pathways did not exist. Most principals and teachers fell into the categories of untenured and tenured based upon the successful completion of 3 years of work. Once educators moved into a tenured track, few if any opportunities existed for additional advancement. With the creation of a regional career ladder pathway, the St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES-led consortium created a structure involving intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, as well as formal and informal recognition to help in the retention of effective educators across the component districts, including providing monetary recognition for work outside of the school day (e.g., $1,000 per quarter stipend for District Teacher Leaders, $2,000 stipend for Regional Principal Leaders).
Equitable Access

Each district within the consortium selected their most effective teachers for the District Teacher Leader (DTL) role across grade levels and content areas to ensure consistency and support for all educators. DTLs also continue to teach in the classroom, ensuring that the lowest performing students have access to the most effective educators.  In addition, Distance Learning courses have provided students to access to courses where locally either the district has been challenged to find a qualified teacher or staffing limitations do not allow for the course to be offered.

Other Areas of Focus

Other Areas of Focus Local Educational Agency (LEA) Efforts
Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR)

Component districts are creating professional development plans based upon data collected during observations, walkthroughs, and state assessment testing.  Trends are examined and root causes are traced to determine why some data are below par.  Targeted professional development is then delivered by teacher leaders to best meet the needs identified. Administrators have reached out to the BOCES School Improvement Office to inquire about further regional professional development to support non-effective teachers.  Additionally, they have employed coaches to mentor struggling teachers as well as identified in-house teachers who exemplify the traits and skills that are lacking.
College and Career Readiness Standards in ELA and Math

Professional development has been provided around unpacking standards, prioritizing learning targets, creating pacing guides for units, discussing protocols and strategies, exploring resources that support a unit, examining text and text complexity, peer reviewing taught curriculum maps, reflecting on units already taught, deconstructing module lessons to examine rigor, and more. Additionally, half of the sessions were devoted to reflection on the previous curriculum implementation.   An online space, Schoology, is being used between sessions to continue this peer support and to house all curricular and instructional materials used. 
Dissemination of Promising Practice

The St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES STLE-D grant is focused on providing professional development to principals and prospective principals. This professional development includes sessions on how building leaders can: support professional learning communities (PLCs), build a culture of distributed leadership, and employ instructional rounds.

A partnership with the Educational Administration Program at St. Lawrence University provides a Principal Academy for experienced, novice and aspiring principals with a focus on the instructional rounds process. The instructional rounds process includes educators from multiple districts who learn from each other. Participants in the Principal Academy are immersed in the foundations of the instructional core. They are also participating in action research around the implementation of an initiative.

Areas of Impact

The St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES-led consortium has identified quantitative and qualitative impact data that it has seen and hopes to realize since implementing career ladder pathways and related STLE grant activities. 

Areas of Impact

Initial Student Impact
  • Teachers have reported that their students are doing much better with Common Core this year as a result of the curriculum, assessment and instruction work of the STLE grant. The collaboration among teachers has resulted in learning about the best practices and strategies to help students.
  • Through the site visit it was reported that administration has seen graduation rates improving as a result of the vertical and regional articulation of expectation
Early Impact on Talent Management System
  • Over 200 educators attended a 3-day Hybrid Professional Learning Community staff development session focused on building internal capacity to forward the Regent’s Reform Agenda initiatives including Great Teachers/Great Leaders, Data Driven Instruction, and Common Core Standards.
  • The Regional Teacher Leaders (RTLs) have facilitated four days of curriculum mapping work time with the District Teacher Leaders (DTLs); two days in the summer of 2014 and two follow up days in the fall of 2014.  These work days focused on the creation of sample taught curriculum maps for the module units, deconstructing the standards and prioritizing the learning targets for each unit.  824 teachers across the region attended 30 sessions facilitated by the RTLs. 
  • Instructional Rounds are helping with the change in culture. Teachers and administrators are working together to derive a solution to a problem of practice. Feedback from a number of principals  indicates that this work has expanded the expertise and knowledge of their staff and will enable them to grow and develop professionally as well as to further support their own district initiatives

[ Back to Top ]

Career Ladder Pathways   Each LEA participating in STLE 2 or 3 was required to develop and implement or enhance career ladder pathways rooted in sound implementation of their evaluation systems.  Career ladder pathways were based on a minimum of three “rungs” including: novice, professional, and leader levels that were associated with specific roles, responsibilities, and optional district-defined compensation incentives.

Career ladder pathways are a systematic, coordinated approach to provide new and sustained leadership opportunities with additional compensation, recognition, and/or job embedded professional development for teachers and principals in order to advance excellent teaching and learning.

Teacher Career Ladder Pathway

Teacher Title Roles and Reponsibilities Compensation Number Serving in Role in 2014-15
Novice Teacher

Turnkey Facilitator

  • Attend turnkey training at the BOCES.
  • Work closely with partner teacher to review/revise given materials
  • Work closely with partner teacher to prepare for presentation of materials.
  • Provide feedback to the BOCES about the materials and presentation.
 $50/hour for planning and workshop presentation

18
Professional Teacher

District Teacher Leader

  • Teacher Leaders maintain current teaching assignment (district decision to reduce teaching load to provide time to support teachers)
  • Teacher Leaders provide support solely in their district
  • Teacher leaders receive a minimum of 80 hours of Common Core training and DDI training focused on supporting teachers through these initiatives
  • Teacher leaders provide turnkey professional development for their grade level/subject band
  • Teacher leaders facilitate curriculum planning for teachers in their grade level/subject band
  • Teacher leaders work with other district leaders to ensure consistency between grade level/subject bands
  • Teacher leaders facilitate initial Interim Assessment data meetings and support the grade level/subject area team on future data meetings
  • Teacher leaders coach colleagues based 
 $1,000 per quarter

114
Teacher Leader

Regional Teacher Leader

  • Are released from their current teaching position to take on the special assignment.
  • Provide support to District Teacher Leaders.
  • Receive a minimum of 120 hours of Common Core training, DDI training, and coaching training focused on supporting teachers through the Regents Reform Agenda.
  • Lead regional grade level/subject area meetings to discuss barriers to successful implementation.
  • Participate with regional principal leaders in the administrative steering committee.
  • Work with teacher leaders to determine professional development needs as determined by DDI meetings
 1.0 FTE Salary (TOSA)

7

Principal Career Ladder Pathway

Principal Title Roles and Reponsibilities Compensation Number Serving in Role in 2014-15
Novice Principal

Turnkey Professional Developer

  • Attend turnkey training at the BOCES.
  • Work closely with partner teacher to review/revise given materials.
  • Work closely with partner teacher to prepare for presentation of materials.
  • Provide feedback to the BOCES about the materials and presentation.
 N/A 1
Professional Principal

District Principal Leader

  • Principal Leaders provide support and coaching to the novice principals in the district.
  • Principal leaders facilitate district planning for Principals across initiatives including but not limited to curriculum planning, assessment planning, technology planning and more.
  • Principal leaders facilitate initial Interim Assessment data meetings and support the grade level/subject area team on future data meetings
  • Principal leaders colleagues based on needs determined by data
  • Principal leaders coach colleagues through systems change.
 N/A 0
Principal Leader

Regional Principal Leader

  • Provide support to District Principal Leaders and Regional Teacher Leaders
  • Receive a minimum of 80 hours of Common Core training, DDI training, Effective Teacher Evaluation, and system’s change training focused on supporting Principals through the Regents Reform Agenda.
  • Lead regional grade level/subject area meetings to discuss barriers to successful implementation.
  • Participate with regional principal leaders in the administrative steering committee.
  • Work with Regional Principal Leaders to determine professional development needs as determined by DDI meetings
  • Create a regional support group for novice and professional Principals.
  • Serve on the Regional Leadership Professional Development Committee, thus providing the necessary staff development for the regional principal team in the areas of Common Core Curriculum Implementation, Teacher Effectiveness as well as Data Driven Instruction.  
 $2,000 4

[ Back to Top ]

Sharing the Work   The Strengthening Teacher and Leader Effectiveness (STLE) grant has resulted in the development and sharing of a wide variety of tools, tips, and resources. Local Education Agencies (LEAs) have been highlighted for their work through various media outlets and NYSED videos, and have also created tools and resources that are available to the field.

Resources

  • The following tools were developed by the St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES to inform the region’s teachers and principals of the career ladder pathways opportunities available, including the well as the duties and eligibility criteria.  These resources may be used as a guide for LEAs as they work to communicate and advertise career ladder opportunities.
    • Principal Leader Invitation to Apply
    • Teacher Leader Invitation to Apply – This resource also includes a leadership framework graphic which can be used to help educators visualize the leadership structure. 
    • Application for Leadership Positions – To facilitate the application process for individuals seeking teacher leadership positions, the St. Lawrence Lewis BOCES used an online survey tool.  Teachers seeking career ladder positions completed the application online which allowed for an efficient review process.  This tool also allowed for quick and easy analysis of the characteristics of the applicant pool. This resource could be used by districts seeking to streamline the application process for teacher leader positions.  
  • The STLE Evaluation Survey was prepared by the St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES to better determine the professional development needs of the educators in the component districts.  This data was used to drive professional development decisions and the work of the teacher leaders.  The survey was also used to assess the impact of the professional development and further refine the activities of the BOCES to assist with the continuous improvement of educators across the consortium.
  • The New York State Career Ladder Pathways Toolkit, a new, interactive, web-based toolkit that includes profiles of adaptable career ladder pathways models, resources, and best practices to help address the five common talent management challenges that contribute significantly to equitable access, resources that will help LEAs implement the Department’s recommended framework and steps to design and implement robust career ladder pathways.  
  • To learn more about the Strengthening Teacher and Leader Effectiveness (STLE)  grant program and to access additional resources for career ladder pathways visit: EngageNY: Improving Practice Landing Page

The Office of Teacher/Principal Quality & Professional Development invites you to submit tools and resources to STLE@nysed.gov that will further help the field, including but not limited to: gap analysis templates, career ladder pathway design principles, communication plans, description of sample roles and responsibilities, tools that help gauge the return on investment and strategies for program evaluation. 

Local Media

  • The Regional Teacher Leader Presentation video includes the reflections of STLE participants including detailed description of the impact of the program on participants as well as detailed information on the power of cross-district collaboration. 

We encourage you to continue to contribute to the on-going conversation on Twitter by sharing your work using #STLE.

[ Back to Top ]