What is the greatest need or lesson learned when getting started on the TIA process? The answers below were provided by Cohort D LEAs.
Lesson #1 - We repeatedly hear the importance of having a team to engage in this work. This may formally be called the District Stakeholder Development Committee, but sometimes committees are in name only, and one or two people end up taking responsibility for the work. TIA is an example of how we need district and campus level leaders including those with knowledge and expertise in spending, human resources, observation calibration, student growth data analysis, etc to take part. Let’s also be very intentional in ensuring we have teacher leaders engaged in the conversation. If the teachers don’t understand the local designation system, or perhaps they aren’t interested in participating, a whole new set of challenges may arise.
Lesson #2 - Get dates on the calendar and stick to it. When engaging in the TIA process of developing the local designation system, there will be meetings with stakeholders, intentional planning meetings with the district committee, and work time for various tasks. At a minimum, this work will require at least two 2 hour meetings each month as information is presented, feedback is received, and the language of the application is crafted.
