LCP Teacher Practitioners Help Peers Help Students

It's all about teachers helping other teachers - and the result? Better educated students. That's the goal of more than 150 teachers who are currently available to serve as teacher practitioners at Learning Community Program schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District.

"LAEP's Practitioner Network provides teachers with colleagues, who provide expertise in curriculum, instruction and assessment and serve as resources to faculty at LEARN schools," said LCP Director Carole Clarke.

Practitioners provide schools that have adopted the LEARN/LCP reform model with classroom demonstrations, facilitation of discussions on classrooms practice, workshops, and Classroom Teaching in Action (CTIA), a peer coaching method of assisting with classroom change. Participating teams of teachers observe the teacher practitioners in their classrooms as they work with their students using innovative methods. Following the classroom observation, teachers discuss with the practitioner how the alternative classroom practices operate. Later, practitioners pay a return visit to the LEARN classroom were the teacher can ask additional questions or receive additional information.

Practitioners have defined areas of expertise and are drawn largely from existing Teacher Networks and National Board Certified Teachers. Practitioners are linked to individual schools on an as-needed basis and by mutual agreement. Connections between practitioners and schools are based on school-identified needs and requests, Teacher Practitioner areas of expertise, grade level considerations and geographic proximity.

"LCP's professional development model called Classroom Teaching in Action (CTIA) builds upon our Teacher Practitioners' abilities to provide classroom demonstrations, peer coaching, workshops on instructional strategies, and study group facilitation regarding classroom practice," Clarke said.

Small teams of 3-8 teachers sign up to work with Teacher Practitioners over a period of months for a total of 20-30 hours on a specific focus area. Participant teams have focused on the student learning outcome in their Site Action Plans and on implementation of rubrics. Other schools requested CTIA to support new teachers or as part of internal peer-coaching developed through LAEP whole school, on-site training. This year, CTIA has evolved into a Continuous Coaching Cadre, a group of Teacher Practitioners who meet monthly to enrich their coaching and who work in pairs to coach small teams of teachers in four elementary and one senior high school.

"Peers helping peers; it's been proven in the classroom with real kids. It's a way of taking good classroom practices and building upon them," said the 30-year teaching veteran who teaches English at Sylmar High School and has been both a part of, and strong advocate for, LCP's Teacher Practitioner Project. "Teacher Practitioner Networks have changed the climate of my school," Roderick said. "It's made teachers a lot more open and less isolated. This model in particular allows teachers to engage in ongoing development and a chance to see their ideas as actual practice in the classroom."

In support of the Teacher Practitioner Project is the Teacher Network Project, which specifically involves teachers in within-school and cross-school networks whose focus is around improving classroom practice. Teachers gather on a monthly basis to share their knowledge and skills and explore a deeper understanding of how their teaching can affect student achievement. Membership varies from five to 20 teachers depending upon the network. Each network appoints a facilitator who becomes a link between all the networks by attending a monthly Facilitator's Network meeting and participating in professional development related to their responsibilities as facilitators.

This year, LAEP/LCP has placed increased emphasis on providing opportunities for teachers in LEARN schools to develop and participate in cross-school networks. Cross-school networks are developed by linking the teachers from within-school study groups to share and discuss common interest in curriculum, instruction, assessment, and school reform. In addition, several new networks were started this year Nationally Board Certified Teachers who wanted to extend their network experience into a second year of working on curriculum and instructional issues in a certificate area.

"Effective school-wide change often happens when teachers communicate within and across schools to analyze and discuss their curriculum and students' work, Clarke said. "Networks provide teachers and administrators with a communication link to existing and new professional communities which encourage and enable the transformation of teaching."

	Related Links Find out more about the LEARN 2000 forum Learn more about LAEP's Learning Community Program Visit the LEARN Web site Learning Community Program Plays Key Role in LEARN School Reform

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