There are many approaches to reimagining the teaching role. Most models are designed to be malleable to a school’s unique student and staffing needs. Education First classified the approaches into three categories in their 2023 landscape scan:
- Changing how teams within a school are structured to better support students.
- Leveraging broader pools of talent to teach courses.
- Changing how existing teachers do their work by optimizing technology.
In this project, we focus on the first category, where schools and districts develop new types of teaching teams to better meet students’ needs. This approach emphasizes creating teacher leadership roles, integrating support staff in the instructional process, and structuring teams with shared accountability for student outcomes. These teams may include teachers, paraprofessionals, residents, tutors, and student teachers. Here is a non-exhaustive list of several models that reflect this approach to reimagining the teaching role.
Opportunity Culture
Developed by Public Impact, this model leverages teacher teams to reach more students by positioning excellent teachers to lead teams of teachers.
Next Education Workforce
Arizona State University’s flexible, school-specific model positions a “core team” of educators who provide instruction to and share responsibility for a large, 50–150 student roster. An “extended team” can then be leveraged to provide additional support to teachers while working across teams or schools.
US PREP
The University School Partnerships for the Renewal of Educator Preparation (US PREP) Strategic Staffing model aims to combat district staffing challenges by working directly with educator preparation programs to fund teacher resident stipends to address candidates’ financial needs and strategically place student teachers to address schools’ instructional needs.