A Clinton School student partnered with Teach for America in South Louisiana to implement a system to evaluate relationships with local schools and create a guide for assigning teachers to specific regions.
Clinton School student Taylor Ballinger of Richmond, Ky., worked with Teach For America-South Louisiana (TFA-SLA), a branch of the national nonprofit that recruits, trains and supports some of the nation’s rising leaders to teach for a minimum of two years in under-resourced and under-performing schools, which typically serve students in high poverty.
Ballinger helped produce and implement a system for TFA-SLA staff members to evaluate their relationships with partner school districts. He also created the resource guide for all TFA-SLA staff members to utilize during “matriculation” rounds, which occur four times annually when TFA corps members are assigned to specific regions.
“I’m particularly excited about this project, because it represents a shift in the way we go about partnering with local school districts and communities, while also ensuring that our incoming corps is prepared to come into South Louisiana and make an immediate impact on their students,” said Ballinger, a 2007 Teach For America – Greater New Orleans corps member.
The project, which represents Ballinger’s final Capstone project through the Clinton School’s Master of Public Service degree program, was created specifically for TFA-SLA staff members to utilize now and in the future, and was something that the organization has desired to implement for the past few years.
“Two things we absolutely believe here at Teach For America are that great teachers make an enormous impact on students, and that community involvement is a critical lever in ensuring that young people get the education they deserve,” said Michael Tipton, executive director of TFA-SLA. “This project allows us to better gauge and ultimately improve our relationship with our local community – including them in our efforts in and out of the classroom, while also setting the foundation for our incoming corps members to make a huge difference in the classroom.”
After creating his initial framework for evaluating district relationships, Ballinger applied it to the relationships he was developing in two school districts. Over the course of the nearly three-month project, he implemented action steps to improve relationships and also refined the evaluation system.
Ballinger also created resource guides for the second of four yearly matriculation rounds, then implemented a staff survey to understand its usefulness before updating the guides for the third round. Ultimately, the TFA-SLA region finished in the top 5 among all TFA regions nationally in terms of matriculation rates.
“We can’t impact the achievement gap if we don’t have teachers in the classroom,” Tipton said. “So making sure we have the resources necessary to get them ready and excited to be in the classroom is critical.
The project, which utilized past information and knowledge of district relationships, will continue to be implemented over the course of the next year, to continue strengthening partnerships. The resource guide for matriculation will also be utilized throughout the year to train and support new staff members, and to continue improving the rates at which individuals accept their offer to TFA-SLA; while also cultivating strong mindsets in the incoming teachers to prepare them for excellence in the classroom.
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