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Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Episode 61: The Powerful Connection Between Teacher Empowerment and Student Achievement
In this episode of the Compass PD Podcast, Dr. Carrie Hepburn is joined by Bridgett Niedringhaus to explore how empowering teachers can significantly boost student achievement. Together, they discuss strategies like providing impactful professional development, fostering collaborative environments, and granting teachers autonomy in instructional decisions. Learn how these practices can create a culture of trust, collaboration, and innovation, directly leading to enhanced student learning and teacher engagement.
This is the first episode in a three-part series on leveraging teacher empowerment to maximize student success. Tune in to discover actionable insights for educators and administrators alike!
Hello and welcome to the Compass PD podcast, where we dive into evidence-based practices and research-driven strategies that empower educators and leaders to make a lasting impact. I'm Dr Keri Hepburn, your host, and I am joined by my good friend and colleague, dr Bridget Niedringhaus. Hi.
Speaker 2:Bridget, hi Keri, how are you this morning?
Speaker 1:I am great, I'm really excited, because we're exploring a subject that I know resonates with many of you the powerful connection between teacher empowerment and student achievement and today we're going to focus on teachers. So, whether you're a teacher, administrator or district leader, our goal is to provide you with insights and tools to help you navigate the complexities of education and inspire student success. In this episode, we're going to highlight opportunities for teacher empowerment within a school and how it can directly enhance student learning, and this will be the first in the series of three podcasts that Dr Niedringhaus is going to be talking about. So let's dig into this. What comes to mind when you think of ways to empower teachers, bridget?
Speaker 2:Well, let's talk about the fact that teacher empowerment is giving educators autonomy. They're giving resources, professional development and support to take charge of their teaching practice and influence student learning. When teachers are empowered, they're more motivated, they're more innovative, they're effective in meeting the diverse needs of the students in their classroom. Here are some things that empowerment can directly enhance student learning, and the first one I want to talk about is providing professional development opportunities, and when I talk about providing professional development opportunities, I mean ongoing. I mean empowering teachers with continuous professional development that enhances their skills and keeps them up to date with, whether it be new teaching methods or technologies or research on effective learning.
Speaker 2:We know that there are a myriad of ways to deliver professional development. It is not a one and done approach. It has to be that ongoing and it doesn't have to be an outside speaker. Understanding, as an administrator, that I had a lot of power in providing professional development for my teachers, and so, for example, if I needed to provide some professional development in the area of reading, I had reading specialists in my building, I had a literacy coach in my building, and so these are colleagues that teachers work with that they can learn from every day, teachers who are well equipped with those tools, the latest tools and strategies are more likely to engage students and drive achievement, because they themselves have been engaged and they themselves are being motivated, and so we want to turn that into what we see in the classroom and that PD can be personalized.
Speaker 2:We can offer opportunities for teachers to pursue areas of personal interest and growth. We can advance subject knowledge, we can advance pedagogy. It just helps teachers to stay motivated and passionate about teaching, which in turn is going to positively affect our students and their engagement For sure. The second one that I really feel like enhances student achievement and empowers our teachers is by fostering those collaborative environments. So I think by now a lot of us feel like oh, we get that, we've been there, we've done that. We've maybe participated in professional teams or learning communities. We want to encourage that among teachers through a lot of different ways, and so we can talk about team teaching and how empowered teachers can be through team teaching and their planning together and doing through team teaching and they're planning together and doing some team teaching together, and maybe it's a subject area where there's a teacher that's going to take the lead, there's a teacher that's going to kind of move around and look at what, where are the students, what students need that extra push. Of course we always want to talk about professional learning communities and how we need to set aside time in our schedules for professional learning communities and for teachers to get together, inviting in some of those experts in your building that you have that can help you work through some things. And then talking about mentoring programs, and so I cannot stress enough the importance that our new teachers have mentors not mentors that they're the next in line in the grade level to have a new teacher as a mentor, but mentors that we know are going to pair well with the new teacher and provide them the necessary experience and coaching that they need as a new teacher. When teachers work together, we know that they can share successful strategies, they can troubleshoot any challenges that they have and they support one another in creating those high quality learning experiences, and so we want to make sure that we are, as administrators, providing the time in our schedules that teachers can get together and collaborate. We want to also focus on that data sharing and analysis piece and so empower teachers to use state student data to inform instruction. By analyzing achievement data collaboratively, teachers can make data-driven decisions. They can adjust their lesson plans and target areas where students need more support and when teachers don't feel like they have the wherewithal or the magic silver bullet, or I just don't know where to go it, or I just don't know where to go, falling back on those building experts that you have and bite them in. Have them come in, do the team teaching with one of your building experts, your literacy coach. Come in and do a lesson and watch what they're doing and see how you can incorporate that into your own classroom practice as administrators. It's really important that we encourage that and it's important for us.
Speaker 2:As an administrator, I don't know every subject matter, every grade level. I don't know all the nuances of the day in and day out that go, goes on in a classroom. However, I do have the power and the ability to help provide some supports and get in there myself to see oh okay, this is what that PLC was talking about. Oh, okay, here's what we're doing. It's important for us as administrators get into some of that collaborative time and hear those conversations that are going on.
Speaker 2:The third thing I want to talk about is the autonomy and instructional decisions. Talk about curriculum flexibility. So give teachers the freedom to adapt and modify the curriculum based on students' needs, interests and learning styles. That doesn't mean you're changing the standards. That does not mean you're changing the standards. That does not mean you're not teaching the curriculum. That means it's the teacher.
Speaker 2:You know one of the common things I used to hear as an administrator is they've taken all the creativity out of teaching. I don't have any opportunities for creativity, and the opportunities for creativity are actually needed more now than we have ever before. We need teachers that are going to come in and listen and see what's going on in their classrooms and be creative in the way that they deliver their instruction. They have to know when is it time to slow down a little bit and go back and hit something, or when is it time that, oh, we seem to really have a good grasp on this, and so it's time for us to continue moving forward. When teachers can make decisions, they feel empowered, right, and so we know that teachers know their class the best, they're going to do, what's best suited for their class. In those collaborative moments, it can be really difficult to hear about the teacher whose class is moving forward or look at their data of things that are moving forward, but it's really an empowering opportunity as a teacher to say, wow, I know that this can be done and I have resources right here on my grade level that I can talk to other teachers and see how did they do that, and so that can be an empowering opportunity, too, when we are looking at really relevant and engaging lessons that we need to get into our own classrooms, and then that leads to increased student achievement.
Speaker 2:And then we want to talk about assessment. Flexibility. Is an assessment like it is? It's taboo to talk about. I feel like teachers get bogged down with assessments. I feel like that teachers feel overwhelmed by assessments, and I think that we have to remember what an assessment is. When we allow teachers autonomy to design an assessment that accurately reflects student progress rather than relying solely on standardized tests, it ensures that the assessments are aligned with the teaching that they're providing and gives us some valuable insights about student growth.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of things we can do with assessment. We can do thumbs up and thumbs down. We can do quick, easy, just check-ins. We can have conferences with students and that's a form of assessment. You know, taking some notes. One of my teachers used to have index cards and have a ring in the corner and each student had their own index card and she could open the ring and add index cards whenever she needed, but on the index cards she would just take little notes and, honestly, she showed it to me once and I had no idea what it said, because there were no. She understood about, you know, checkpoints that she was looking for. Then she could go back quickly and say, wow, look, here I have five students that have this thing going on. And she not only did an assessment with the students, but then she went back and assessed again Like and so how can this inform my instruction? I think that just the autonomy that we're giving to our teachers to have that instructional decision making is so important, right For sure.
Speaker 1:One of the things that you talked about with the professional development is that it's ongoing. I cannot tell you how many times like right now it's December and people are talking to us about their PD for next year because they have three PD days and those three PD days they have one day for each topic. It's be a full day and then they're done and then they wonder why they're not seeing that transference. So you highlighting the importance of how do we find ways for this to be ongoing. We have some people in our building that can help us continue to keep that as a focus so that people can see that, the application of that in the classroom. So I loved that. And then fostering collaborative environments. You were talking about the importance of the administrator providing those opportunities, protecting those, the importance of not allowing other things to pull from those collaborative team times. One of the things that I know you worked really hard to do that we don't get to see very often anymore because of the current reality regarding subs is maybe getting a half day for teams once a quarter or once a semester so they could feel like they were getting ahead or scoring assessments. That felt overwhelming and have those conversations. So that was something that was really nice. One of the things that you mentioned was getting in there and listening and, as an administrator, in their PLC time, what are they struggling with?
Speaker 1:I remember my last couple of years in curriculum. One of the things that we set up were lab sites in our district and we had our administrators like get in there and learn. And so they were trying it out in front of their teachers and the power of that because that's very vulnerable, especially if you haven't been in the classroom for a long time. So we were all like, ooh, this is really hard and it created just the street cred and kind of this bond between the coaches and the teachers that were able to see it and the administrators like, okay, let's, let's like roll up our sleeves together and we're going to give it a shot.
Speaker 1:So that collaboration was probably some of the most powerful collaborative time that that I saw. That I was like, oh man, I wish we could do this everywhere, but I know it's hard. But in those autonomy and those instructional decisions, when you are talking about that, that all of these ways do empower teachers and inspire them, the day-to-day of being an educator is hard. So any way we can make them feel good and and let them know that we're trusting them and that we can try some things. I was just in a school what is today I'm trying to think of like two days ago, and I taught a lesson four times and every time I did it different and by the time we got to the fourth time I was like this is it?
Speaker 2:You know that's the beauty of teaching and that's the beauty of teaching in secondary.
Speaker 1:At times when I'm in elementary, I'm like but by the time we got to the fourth one, I'm like this is the one I want you to use. Fourth one I'm like this is the one I want you to use, and it's okay that it's not perfect, you know. So I love that you're like okay, let's, let's give them some autonomy, let's try some things. Let's look at I wrote down like data driven what's the data saying? And and I think that helps with the team in having conversations where it doesn't feel like when we're looking at the data, it's competitive, like I tried this and you know my principal's cool with that. They're cool with us trying some different things and we're going to see what does and what doesn't work, and it looks like your way worked better than mine. So, but you have to create that culture. Now let's talk about which is always our favorite part, like what are some of the common challenges? Or sometimes you'll hear us say predictable problems they're going to encounter as they're doing this. Could you chat with us about that?
Speaker 2:You know I've been thinking a lot about that, and so we know that one of the big problems with professional development and let's just it's the elephant in the room we tend to think about as a principal, I look at a budget and I tend to think about what I'm going to do next year and I have this money now and so I'm going to set up the professional development for the year, and I don't always think about how can I maybe get some input on that from teachers, work with my administrative assistant and make sure that we have money set aside for professional development in our building. What that could look like is I am like you said, getting some substitutes could be for a half day, it could be. I look at when a grade level special areas are and then I tag in another hour with the substitute and.
Speaker 2:I can get a lot of grade levels done in a day. There's this mindset of professional development has already been taken care of for. For us, instead of here's what we need, I would say that is a challenge, and so, as an administrator, you need to really, before the school year begins, maybe at the end of the previous year, really do a reflection with your building experts, with your teachers, and find out where are those areas that we can carry over and build on, and so let's not start with hey, we focused on PLCs this year, but next year we're just going to focus on reading and we're not going to talk
Speaker 2:about PLCs anymore, and so you have to really look at how we marry the two, how there's that carryover, carryover so that we're we're looking at the goal being the quality of professional development and tied to student achievement, always, always not the one and done, but always. The other thing is, a lot of times, at that mid-year point, you're looking at your budget and you haven't spent it all, and so what are you doing with it? And so how can you provide opportunities for professional development teachers getting into each other's rooms to observe each other, or or whatever? But so the problem being that money that seems to you know, get scooped up pretty quickly. Making sure that you are looking at the year as a whole and not just what you're going to throw at your teachers at the beginning of the year. When we talk about collaborative environments, we kind of hit on this, but making sure that we are protecting and providing that, providing a protecting time for teachers to have that collaborative environment. Sometimes that has to be worked into your master schedule, but it can also be looked at in other ways. Schedule, but it can also be looked at in other ways. Your staff meetings how can you use your staff meetings differently, both for professional development and for collaborative time. I don't have a need to stand and read off dates to you or things that can be done in an email.
Speaker 2:As an administrator, I need to know that. I do understand the power of having the school together as a whole and as an administrator, I'm going to liken it to having all your kids home for Christmas. There's this like everybody's here, everybody, you know. It feels so warming to have everybody together, but let's make sure that we have some focus for why we're all together and make sure that we are doing the best that we can to utilize that time for the benefit of teachers and students. Me standing and reading to you a newsletter or going through a calendar, or those are things that can be done in other ways, but it's difficult for teachers to find that extra time for professional development, for collaboration, things like that. The other thing would be when we're talking about fostering those collaborative environments. As administrators, we need to be part of the collaborative environments and as teachers, we need to know that we have an expectation in that collaborative environment and so you know, making sure that we have teams that get together that don't always get along, and so making sure again that we've set norms, that we've set the focus of why we're here, even if our personalities might clash and they might even over some conversation, and that's powerful, that the expectation for collaboration is there and what it looks like. And then, finally, that autonomy. Let's talk about that again Like. And then, finally, that autonomy let's talk about that again Like.
Speaker 2:I hate that teachers feel like they cannot be creative in their craft, because teaching is an extremely creative craft.
Speaker 2:Teaching is something where we bring to the table something different every day.
Speaker 2:We bring ourselves different every day. You know, as a teacher, I didn't wake up the same way every day, or I didn't have the same things going every day, and so I would say one of the challenges in that autonomy piece is making sure that while you're giving the autonomy, while you're given the autonomy, you still understand what those standards are, what the curriculum is, what is your end goal in mind? Where are you trying to get your students? I think one of the fun things that we can talk about with autonomy and talking about assessments and instruction is when we do some vertical teaming. We can actually see what do the grade levels before us do, what do the next grade levels do, what are their expectations, kind of where are we finding the gaps? And I think that's so important to keep in mind too, even though it can be a tough one to tackle is that we have to have that end goal in mind and that autonomy requires that we are all kind of following the same suit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those are definitely challenges that the administrators are going to run into and you have some really great tips help support them so that they can overcome those predictable problems, or at least prepare for them. Like it's not going to be a surprise when it happens, and I think being proactive always helps us feel more confident. So quickly, just to recap, like by empowering your teachers, dr Niedringhaus has shared with us that we're creating an environment where teachers feel a deep connection to the school and those students that are in our schools. When the students feel that connection with their teachers and are engaged in high levels of learning, we know research tells us student achievement will increase. So as we explore strategies to empower teachers and enhance student achievement, remember it's important to recognize that this is multi-dimensional. It's not just do this and it's going to fix things. It requires us to have the grounding and strong relationships, trust and a shared commitment to deeply engaging students through the focused efforts of both the teachers and the learners and, honestly, the leadership that's supporting them and creating that environment for them. Dr Niedringhaus is going to continue to look at the powerful connection between teacher empowerment and student achievement by exploring the following Promoting a growth mindset, supporting teacher well-being and integrating student voice and choice.
Speaker 1:Next week, we're exploring the gift of learning, where we will discuss how learning inspires and builds confidence. So be sure to tune in and listen to that episode, and I just want to tell you that we appreciate you. Thank you so much for joining us on the Compass PD podcast. Remember, at Compass PD, we believe that every educator, every educator, has the power to inspire, change and transform student learning. Stay focused, stay inspired and keep making a difference. We appreciate you.