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College of Education reaching out to help school districts

Minnesota State Mankato's College of Education is reaching out to St. Peter and other public school districts to help them develop teacher coaching programs.

2006-07-03
By Nick Hanson, Free Press Staff Writer [published in The Free Press, Mankato, MN, 7/2/2006]

ST. PETER — With the help of Minnesota State University, St. Peter Public Schools are developing a new teacher coaching program.

The program will debut this fall and be phased throughout the district during the next three years.

"They are going to be coaching the teachers on how to evaluate themselves," said Kitty Foord, coordinator of professional development for Minnesota State University's College of Education. "It's the most amazing way of having a safe environment for professional growth."

Foord is working for the district through a partnership between the university and the St. Peter schools. The hope is that by the end of the three years, the new method, officially dubbed cognitive coaching, will be one of the main district tools for staff development.

St. Peter school administrators started taking in-depth lessons about the program from Foord last week. She's addressing how to deal with different  personality types and approach seasoned and rookie teachers.

Teacher-to-teacher evaluation is nothing new in education. It's an increasing trend many Minnesota school districts are adopting.

It's also an essential piece of new educational approaches like Professional Learning Communities and Minnesota's new Quality Compensation performance pay program.

While teachers will eventually coach each other, this fall St. Peter administrators will do all of the evaluating in an attempt to develop a non-threatening effective technique.

"It is (always) confrontational to be in a conference with somebody," Foord said. "What works for other people may not work with others at all."

Although the program is just starting, the district has been toying with similar ideas for about a year.

Last spring, administrators started to conduct random three-minute walk throughs in teachers' classrooms in an attempt to get faculty used to having someone else watch and evaluate them.

"We've created a climate where we are around a lot," said Jeff Olson, St. Peter superintendent. Eventually, the school will mold its own unique technique to effectively gauge its staff. For now, he's excited about working with Minnesota State and kicking off the new program.

"It's terrific that we've got a regional university that is reaching out to be a service provider to the district," he said.

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