Housed at Koontz Elementary School, the Accelerate Rowan Lab School is a place where Rowan-Salisbury Schools is reimagining how we prepare teachers for the future of education. At ARLS, apprentice teachers (seniors in college) are immersed in a full-year, full-time, paid student teaching experience. Over the course of the year, they receive ongoing, job-embedded professional development, coaching and support as they co-teach with highly-skilled master teachers. The goal of ARLS is to give future teachers the confidence and experience they need to maximize student learning.

Classroom teacher leaders and instructional coaches are working together under the TSL grant to develop rigorous, engaging, and standards-aligned lessons that can be implemented in any classroom across the district. By bringing together classroom content experts, instructional coaches, and specialists in AIG, EC, and EL, the teams of teachers can draft initial standards-based lessons and then receive feedback on these lessons before uploading them into the district learning management system (Canvas) where they are made available on demand for Rowan-Salisbury teachers to implement into their classrooms. In the first grant year of TSL, the team developed a total of 104 modules with over 800 lessons total, representing grades K-12 math, ELA, science, and social studies.

In partnership with the NC New Teacher Support Program (NCNTSP), coaches are supporting a cohort of Beginning Teachers, with those identified in high-need schools receiving priority for support (85% of the cohort). The program provides job-embedded professional development in various topics. Educators in coaching sessions feel more supported with the NCNTSP coaches’ weekly meetings. Teachers also report feeling more confident in front of students by trying new strategies that impact student achievement.

• The district’s performance-based compensation (PBC) model is strategically aligned to our Directional System and Accountability Model. A group of 25 teacher leaders created the structure for this model. Members of the PBC Team represent all licensure areas from elementary, middle, high and student support areas. The group brainstormed ways to capture student growth with the use of both formative and summative assessments. Rubrics were created by grade bands. Certified teachers of record may participate by submitting electronic portfolios that will be scored by both internal and external reviewers. The district will pay up to 200 teachers a $5,000 bonus for an effective portfolio that provides evidence of student growth. This exciting opportunity has been shared with all eligible teachers through email, the RSS website, and a video created by the PBC Team. Teacher surveys have indicated that if performance bonuses were based on student test scores, the program would actually be demotivating. This concern aligns with the rubrics developed by the PBC Team; evidence of student growth goes beyond just a test score, and will be measured in many forms. This will also allow teachers who do not teach in an area with a standardized score the opportunity to demonstrate student growth.

Teacher leadership opportunities are an important retention strategy.  Work with a  group of 130 teacher-leaders has been focused on building their capacity as leaders and empowering them to use their voice and influence to change outcomes for our students. 

The Teacher Leader Academy has been a vital resource for the district, especially during the development and launch of our strategic plan. This team has enabled the district to involve teacher voices in major initiatives.  Additionally, members of the Teacher Leader Academy serve as liaisons for their schools, further strengthening their personal impact as teacher leaders. 

This group has also been divided into smaller group project teams that are aligned with the district’s strategic plan: 

• Parent & Family Engagement
• Professional Learning Advisory Team
• Equity Ambassadors
• Teacher Evaluation
• Performance-Based Compensation
• Curriculum Advisory Council