In the first few minutes of our conversation, I heard many of the same themes that were present in my conversation with leadership at University Schools. Most Lakeland kindergarten students enter the system “kindergarten-ready.” Parents are extremely involved in the school system, both in academics and extracurriculars. District leadership tries very hard to ensure that they can “cut through the noise” and allow teachers to focus on teaching.
I will admit to being shocked, however, when Dr. Delloso mentioned that English Learners (EL) —students whose first language is not English—make up 13% of the Lakeland School System population. This is on par with the EL population at Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) and three times as much as neighboring municipal school districts. What’s more, two in every five Lakeland students require a special supportive plan for their education, whether it be for a disability, EL status, or intervention. All of this in a town of less than 15,000.
How, then, does the district and its teachers support these students and achieve such high academic outcomes district-wide? Part of the answer, according to Dr. Delloso, is the implementation of “Instructional Walks”—quarterly observations in ELA and math classrooms performed by an instructional leadership team consisting of school leaders, directors of instruction, and teacher leaders. Their observations are meant to determine how well the teacher is teaching the approved curriculum and whether their instructional methods are resonating with students.
The intent behind these walks is to start conversations. One observer may think that a teacher performed flawlessly, while another might see room for improvement. Regardless, their findings are shared with teachers, who then utilize that feedback in their designated collaborative planning time with fellow teachers. And Lakeland is very serious about their teacher collaboration time.
The district allows teachers to choose professional development activities that work for them throughout the year. Teachers also have protected time for Professional Learning Communities and collaborative planning, during which they sit down with other teachers to observe their classroom data, individual student data, feedback from the Instructional Walks, and their own experiences to improve their pedagogical methods. This does not just happen among the teachers in each grade level, but across grade levels as well, creating what Dr. Horrell deemed “vertical integration.”
Both Dr. Horrell and Dr. Delloso mentioned the term “continuous improvement” at least two dozen times throughout our conversation. As the district has grown, so too has the leadership team’s ability to adapt and learn from their prior experiences. Nowhere is that more evident than in their ability to create a culture in which teachers are encouraged to collaborate, learn from one another, and support students in transitions across grade levels.
While teachers are expected to stick to the approved curriculum, their innovative thinking is required to meet the unique needs of each student—”bounded autonomy,” as Dr. Horrell put it. They’re not teaching to the test; they want students to demonstrate conceptual knowledge and understanding. That comes down to exceptional teachers and a supportive environment created by intentional leaders.
