Preparing the Next Generation of Educators | Kallie Covington & Sherre Heider

 This week, host Ashley sits down with two powerhouse women from Texas Tech University who are shaping the future of education in West Texas.

Dr. Kallie Covington, Director of Development for the College of Education at Texas Tech, spends her days connecting generous donors with causes that transform students' lives — and outside of work, she's a wife and mom living life on a working ranch. Joining her is Dr. Sherre Heider, Assistant Dean for Teacher Education at Texas Tech, who's making sure new teachers walk into their classrooms ready, confident, and equipped to make a real difference, especially in rural communities. Having started her own career as a high school math teacher, Sherre knows firsthand what's on the line.

Together, Kallie and Sherre pull back the curtain on Texas Tech's teacher preparation programs and why they believe in setting future educators up for success early, rather than throwing them into the deep end. They dig into the power of co-teaching and mentorship, the role of site coordinators as liaisons between teacher candidates and school districts, and the community partnerships that make it all possible. The conversation also covers how alternative certification programs fit into the picture, what House Bill 2 means for teacher pay, and the Teacher Incentive Allotment — a program rewarding highly effective teachers with both recognition and real financial incentive.

Through it all, one theme keeps coming back: an abundance mindset. When we invest in our teachers, we invest in every student who walks into their classroom.

Tune in to learn why Texas Tech-prepared teachers are some of the best in the field.

Connect with our guests:
Dr. Kallie Covington: Kallie.Covington@ttu.edu
Dr. Sherre Heider: sherre.heider@ttu.edu

About The Ashley B. Cash Show: The Ashley B. Cash Show features conversations with education leaders, policy experts, parents, teachers and reform advocates who are working to transform K-12 education. Host Ashley B. Cash brings her perspective as both a parent and business owner to explore systemic education issues and practical solutions for creating better outcomes for students, families, and communities.

About Ashley:  As both a mother and business owner, Ashley brings a unique dual perspective to education reform advocacy, driven by her desire for better educational outcomes for future generations and informed by her firsthand experience with the skills gap facing employers today. Her passion for transforming K-12 education stems from witnessing the real-world consequences of educational failures and recognizing the critical need for a system that prepares students for diverse career pathways, not just college. Through this podcast, Ashley champions solutions including aptitude-based education tracks, expanded school choice, practical skills integration, and alternative career pathways that align with students' individual strengths and interests.

Follow @AshleyBCashOfficial on Instagram & @Ashley Bowes Cash on Facebook.

Visit www.AshleyBCashOfficial.com for more content and features. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to the Ashley V Cash Show. I'm Ashley, and today I'm super excited. This is the first time I've ever done this, but we have two ladies in the studio with me today. First up is Dr. Callie Kevington. She's the Director of Development for the College of Education at Texas Tech University, helping connect donors to causes that truly transform students' lives. Outside her work, she's a wife and mom living on a working rant with her family. And we also have Dr. Sherry Heider, Assistant Dean for Teacher Education at Texas Tech University, making sure the next generation of teachers are prepared to walk into a classroom and make a difference, especially for kids in rural West Texas, but also beyond. She started her career as a high school math teacher, so she knows exactly what's at stake. Callie and Sherry, welcome to the show. Thanks for having us. We're glad to be here. I'm so glad that you're here. I've been wanting to have this conversation because in my adventures across the state, I have come to learn, obviously, we have a teacher shortage everywhere, not just in Texas, but across the United States. And more and more teachers are leaving the profession. And, you know, there has been some talk in places that teachers sometimes don't feel as prepared as they should have. But what I'm hearing across the state is that Texas Tech University is doing a great job preparing teachers and that they are really sought after. So, Sherry, I'm going to turn this one to you. Talk a little bit about what is making Texas Tech University and your department of education so different.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Absolutely. So when we think about what makes tech teach effective, and we think about we want every single K-12 student to have a highly qualified teacher day one. That's kind of our mission.

unknown 1:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

And so what we have found to work, we want to replicate. So I just want to start with what we've learned, we share with any other educator preparation program, any school district, and then we learn from them as well. We think about competency-based. So our teacher preparation program has a rubric that faculty and clinical faculty that we call site coordinators are trained on. And what that means is it's a common language. So our teacher candidates that receive feedback receive consistent terminology and then implications for student learning. So there's less confusion for a novice teacher. We think about clinically intensive. Our teacher candidates start in the classroom setting as early as possible. So they are seeing what a school day begins. How does a teacher prepare his or her classroom for students? How do they greet them? How do they prepare the lesson? And then how do they teach, assess, and then how do they end that school day? And so that starts their junior year within our program in our traditional two plus two program, is what we call it. And then for student teaching, that that residency year, they are starting when the teachers are on duty. So that usually is early August. That means they are attending professional development. They are learning how to set up a classroom, what is my behavior management strategy going to be? They're there for Meet the Teacher Night, really seen as part of the classroom setting. And then they're there to greet the students. And so they're able to see how do I take my students from where they came from, how do I teach them, how do I assess, and then how do I remediate if needed to show that growth? And they're in that classroom for the full school year. So they're there prior to students starting and then they finish that last day of school with the students. So by the time they're hired, they've really already had a year plus of teaching experience under a highly qualified teacher. Yes. And the mentor teacher that they serve under meets um not only state criteria, but above. So uh qualities like um wanting to have those hard conversations, deliver critical feedback, all in the manner of student achievement. That's the firm foundation. Um, we also employ uh video capture. We want teacher candidates to be reflective of their practice so that they don't only rely on that site coordinator or instructor's feedback, although very important. They need to be reflective practitioners themselves. So they are trained and encouraged to record their own teaching so that they can then learn from it past when tech teach is over and they're a teacher of record. Um, the video capture also allows their instructors as they're taking their methods courses and learning to be math teachers, literacy teachers. It allows them to record their interaction with students, and then their instructors are able to view that via the video capture and provide high-quality feedback. So it kind of brings the K-12 classroom to the university and back. Um, another key component is co-teaching. So mentor teachers, um, we don't subscribe to the sink and swim mentality that's unfortunately other educator preparation programs might, um, hopefully not anymore. But it's truly co-teaching from day one. It's co-planning. What does the lesson need? What do the students need in terms of the lesson components, who will lead the lesson, um, who will assess, and the mentor, teacher, and the teacher candidate work alongside each other. They share space, they share students, and then they share, of course, student learning and the success. Um, so those are the four key components that I think about um that are making tech teach teacher candidates stay in the profession and then successful um day one, as well as the role of the site coordinator. I briefly mentioned that role, and it was really unique to tech teach, and now I think it's gained a lot of traction in that we need a liaison between the school district and the university so that that teacher candidate, all lines of communication go through the site coordinator. Um, and that doesn't mean that they don't hear from their other instructors, but it's just that centralized communication. It leaves any ambiguity, it leaves any confusion. And so the teacher candidate is then supported throughout the duration of their program. So if there are issues with coursework or in need for remediation, any kind of feedback, the site coordinator is kind of that pipeline, that liaison to provide that information. The site coordinator lives in the community in which the teacher candidate is completing his or her student teaching residency. So it's not where a site coordinator may see a teacher candidate the minimum number of times required by the state. Um, they are there weekly, if not daily. Um, in that community, they know the needs of the school district, they know the strategies that the school district is employing for behavior management, for the curriculum that they're using. And so then they're able to help the teacher candidate decipher and figure out and just another added support. So we think of it like as a triad the mentor teacher, the teacher candidate, and the site coordinator all working together and all trained together. One other key component is the idea of governance. Um, I know that word is probably thrown around a lot, but it's um truly just shared governance in the quality of our teacher candidates with the ultimate goal of student achievement. So all of our practices are rooted in student achievement. Uh, coursework, methods, courses, the performance assessments, which are the actual observations of teacher candidates, it's all grounded in that competency uh rubric that I shared at the beginning, but also did students learn? It's not whether or not the site coordinator enjoyed your lesson, although important, engagement is important, fun, you know, irrelevancy, absolutely all important. But the main goal is did students learn? And so that's what it's rooted. So that governance meeting is ensuring that we're, and it could be formalized, but it's also informal. It governance is the uh my level of support meeting with district leaders to make sure that we're recruiting and supporting our teacher candidates in the correct way that's so that they're ready day one, but it's also the mentor, teacher, and the site coordinator meeting monthly to make sure we're all on the same page, just to ensure consistency of expectations across the board. So I would say shared governance is also a key part.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

There are so many things there that I want to unpack. I mean, that was a lot. That was a lot. You are doing this tech tech teach is doing this in conjunction with school districts, but you also have other partners that are helping you fund the site coordinators because that's a relatively new position at school districts. And I believe you told me off camera that not all school, especially small rural school districts, sometimes have a hard time funding one. And so you found community partners to help.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Absolutely. I'd love to share about that. So, yes, in you know, in our urban areas where we have um a lot of teacher candidates, we're able to fund the role of a site coordinator. So Texas Tech, Texas Tech in all communities. We have it not only in Lubbock, we're in the urban areas, the Dallas, Fort Worth area, Houston, San Antonio, and then the Austin area. So we have full-time site coordinators that we're able to employ. They live in those communities, but they're Texas Tech faculty members trained and then support teacher candidates in those areas. However, like you just shared, our rural communities still need highly qualified teachers. Just unfortunately, we're not able to, you know, if we could, and money was not a factor, of course, we would fund site coordinators in every community that needs to be.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

But it's hard when you maybe only have one or two teachers in that community. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

Whereas here in Lubbock, quite a lot of teacher candidates in a rural community, we might support one, two, maybe three teacher candidates, depending on the size. You're exactly right. So through those shared governance that I uh referenced, those become brainstorming sessions, problem-solving sessions where we're truly working at it together. And so one idea that was created is the idea of a district-based site coordinator. So I'll use Snyder ISD, for example. They were one of our earliest partners with our transformation in about 2012, 2013. And the district um just believed in what we were creating and developing. And so they employed one of their uh retired administrators. So someone that knew the school district, lives in the community, knows good teaching when she sees it. She became a tech teach site coordinator that simply lives in Snyder. So she is a faculty member. She's just non-compensated by Texas Tech. The district compensates her. And so since 2012, 2013 school year, she has been able to support anywhere from, I think, two to five teacher candidates a year. And so what that means is these teacher candidates were able to have high quality teacher preparation, live in their community, but still have high standards, and then be able to student teach in their district and then become a teacher of record the very next year. And so it's really helped with their teacher retention. The vast majority are staying in the field because they do feel supported. Um, and then they have less of a teacher um shortage than most rural districts their size or reporting. That is one model that has worked great, and that is replicated, I would say maybe around 10 or 15 across the state in some in some capacity. However, part of our um governance is not only the district and us tech teach, it's also the community college because we know if teacher candidates identify wanting to become a teacher but aren't advised correctly through the community college, then it doesn't make a seamless transition into the university. And so we work really closely with our community colleges in all of the areas I shared before, just to ensure that teacher candidates are on the right path, advised correctly, and then are able to become a teacher when they're ready. So one out of those discussions, Howard College down in the Big Spring area, again, like Snyder, similar to Snyder, said, this is a valuable program that all of our rural districts need. And so they've identified a faculty member that teaches education courses, but a portion of her time is to support teacher candidates and not just Big Spring ISD, but Kahoma ISD, Forsan ISD, Lemisa, Westbrook. So she's then able to, because of her vicinity of where she lives, is able then to support all those uh districts with highly qualified teacher candidates that then become teachers of record within one or two years, depending upon our pathways.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Well, not only the school districts wanting to participate and figuring out how to hire their own site coordinators, but now the junior colleges, along with what I'm hearing from um different ISDs, in particular Houston, I've talked with them, and they absolutely are saying the teachers coming out of Texas Tech University today are some of the best prepared. And I think the teachers themselves are actually feeling more prepared. I know some other program teachers had told me we get here and we haven't had enough coordination. We don't know how to handle the classroom as well, which seems to be one of their big complaints. And so I really, I mean, I had to get you in here to talk about this because I want more people to know about it. I want them to be able to figure out how to partner with Texas Tech, um, whether it's a school district or another junior college, because I think that would be so awesome. I loved what you said about the sink or swim versus co-teaching. And I really want to highlight this because I think it's one of the biggest positives of this program is, and I kind of referenced it already, but where in some programs and in the past, teachers would finish their program at the university and then they would get a job and they would just kind of be thrown into the classroom. And this co-teaching, I think is one of the best things. There's many good things coming out of the program, but I think go a little bit more in depth on that because it's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Absolutely. So I referenced that there are six strategies of co-teaching, but there's all the compilations, of course, in between. So for example, let's say a teacher candidate um plans with his or her mentor teacher and is ready to take the lead role in her lesson. I'll just use her for the scenario. So she, the teacher candidate then delivers the lesson, but the mentor teacher is in what we would call like a one-teach, one-assist role. So the teacher candidate is lead teaching, has control of the classroom, but that mentor teacher is right there, has planned the lesson, knows exactly the objective, what needs to be shared. So let's say the teacher candidate, because we're human, we're learning, stumbles, forgets to make a key point, or mispronounces something. The mentor teacher is able then to just very quickly step in, make a note, make a motion so that one, the teacher candidate is learning. Two, the students are not harmed. The students are still receiving exactly what they need to see, and the lesson continues. And so the multiple, the six co-teaching strategies are all interchangeable. And again, we we base it on what is the best that the lesson needs, right? Every lesson doesn't need one teach, one assist. They might need team teaching. Team teaching is where both the mentor teacher, the teacher candidate are teaching simultaneously. If one was to step out of the room, the learning would continue because they both are prepared, they both are ready to deliver the lesson. And so all of those strategies are employed, which whatever lends itself best to the lesson content. And so think about the teacher-candidate perspective is they are ready, but then they have that support should anything occur, should any confusion or just if the teacher, the mentor teacher wants to make um, you know, maybe the mentor teacher is walking around and notice that there's some student confusion, the mentor teacher then is able to stand in. It ensures that the teacher candidate is learning, but also that student learning while the teacher candidate is learning stays consistent and is and is increased.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

I love when you said earlier that the ultimate goal is student achievement. I have been exploring some different school districts and found that not all of them put the student achievement or the student outcomes as a priority. And I love that we are now doing that because I think that is the ultimate expression of is someone successful? Can the students achieve, do they have good outcomes when they leave our K through 12 education system? And I love that we've put a focus back on that. How do you like what I know we do testing every year? We've historically done the start here in Texas, and that is about to change, but how are you gauging that in the classroom during these teaching co-teaching?

SPEAKER_02 15:34

We call them performance assessment cycles. And so the site coordinator facilitates where there's a pre-conference. So the teacher candidate and site coordinator sit down. The mentor's already been part of that conversation, and the teacher candidate shares this is my teak, right? My uh Texas Essential Knowledge and Skill that I'm going to be teaching for this lesson. This is the objective, and this is how I will know students learn. So they fill out something called a student achievement chart. And it is specific to the actual student. It is not ambiguous, it is not vague, it is where the teacher candidate pre-assessed the students because there was some prior knowledge that would need to happen before I teach this lesson. Right. And so maybe it was um, you know, the students' initials are all over to the side, and the teacher candidate then knows these students, when I pre-assessed them, were falling far below to the objective. These students maybe were at approaches. They were close, just not quite there. These students were meeting the objective already before my lesson. And then these students were exceeding if if that potentially could happen. And then in addition to you don't just plan a lesson in isolation, you plan with those specific students in mind. And so then the conversation between the site coordinator and teacher Canada becomes okay, I see your pre-assessment data. What are you going to do? How are you modifying your lesson? How are you adapting it for the students falling far below? And similarity for the students approaching. And then for students, if that happens that are meeting the objective already, they need to be pushed, right? Because sometimes we think about students not meeting objective, very important, but we also think, what are we doing for our students that are at objective? They need to be pushed as well. And so that occurs prior to the lesson even happening. And so those discussions. It happens about 24 to 48 hours prior to the lesson because teacher candidates then need time to uh reflect on that feedback, maybe go to the mentor teacher, adapt their lesson, and then make any changes needed. So then they teach the lesson, the site coordinator is there, they are video capturing it so that they can reflect later. Very important key component. And then there's a post-assessment. So to see where do the students, and so on that student achievement chart, teacher candidates are then able to show these students where it falls far below. Did they remain there or was their learning increased? Where are they at? And so as I'm speaking, you can think about how important those assessments are. For sure. Right? That they align to the objective, that they're truly measuring what they need to measure, which is why we have a great assessment course. That's why site coordinators are trained in a high quality assessment and alignment. And so then teacher candidates, when they meet with their site coordinator for post-assessment, they're looking at the specific students. Did they advance? If they did, great. If they didn't, what are you going to do? What remediation? So the learning's not just over because the lesson is. What's going to happen tomorrow? And so that's how we look at student achievement formatively because you're you're right. State assessments might tell us a picture, but that's that's too late for our teacher candidates. They need to know day in and day out what what lesson I taught Monday, did it have the impact it needed to, so that students are ready for Tuesday. And if not, what am I going to do about that? Yeah. And then the site coordinator, again, in conjunction with the mentor teacher, so you can see how important it is that that site coordinator is in that school system can speak to what that teacher candidate needs.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

And are the teachers candidates taught to do this on a continuing basis? Like as they're no longer a candidate teacher, but they actually are now a full-fledged teacher. Maybe they don't have the site coordinator one-on-one anymore. Are they taught to do that continuing assessment?

SPEAKER_02 18:52

Yes. And we do, um, we're realistic and we do share that you might not video capture every lesson once you're a teacher of record. You might not post-assess for every single lesson. I think about self-contained elementary teachers when you're teaching four subjects, you know, you might not post-assess, but you are assessing. It might not just be a physical paper pencil. It could be through your conversations, it could be an oral assessment. So, yes, they are trained. We call it being a reflective practitioner, that they are continuing this process moving forward.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

What do you think, having having been trained yourself and then being an early, I don't even know how to describe it, because you've been involved with this since like 2012 when you started this change, right? So this has been a change that is an ongoing now for 14 years, and you've seen it from infancy all the way to where it is now. What are your other favorite parts about it that you think are making a huge impact?

SPEAKER_02 19:44

Oh, that is a great question. Or how has it evolved? How has it evolved? Uh, one thing I wanted to share is that we're not learning in isolation. I will say that. Uh, we alluded to that um, I think I did that we want to share what we have found success in, but that we are not stagnant. We don't think we have arrived by any means. So we have a center called US Prep in the College of Education, and they are able to help other educator preparation programs across the nation with the tech teach model. Now, they don't call it the tech teach model, they call it the best practices, right? But it is all from, it's based in what did tech teach um transform to become what it is today. And so other educator preparation programs are modeling their own transformation after us. And so I think that's what's really been exciting because even though we're going to these other educator preparation programs, and even some of our own faculty are supporting them part-time in kind of a just a support role, we're also bringing back things that they're doing well, right? So we're continually, it's it's not uh educator preparation programs. I wouldn't say we're um competitors by any means. So we want to learn from them. They want to learn from us in all of our um efforts. I think about Charles Butt Foundation, where we're really uh we work well with the Charles Butt Foundation because we're trying to elevate the role of the teaching profession and they provide scholarships. And it's a really neat um two, two times a year, two a second or two annual convenings, um bi-annual, I guess I should say, where I think there's 13 educator preparation programs in the room where we're all brainstorming and problem and troubleshooting our problems of practice. Um, one thing that we uh are thinking about is like test preparation for um the certification exam. Sometimes that becomes a hindering for our teacher candidates. And so we're learning what works for another educator preparation program in the state of Texas, and they are learning from us and all in an effort to produce highly qualified teacher candidates.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Well, and I know that's something that we're seeing. I'm gonna take off the certification part that you talked about. Um, I know across the state we're seeing fewer teachers being certified right now. How is Texas Tech addressing that? And how many teachers are we getting certified?

SPEAKER_02 21:56

Absolutely. I love that you asked that question because that has become our Of how do we uphold the rigor and quality for why districts, why teacher candidates choose Tech Teach, but how can we also uphold that rigor, those high quality standards, but also be responsive to we need certified teachers in the classrooms because that's not the majority right now, unfortunately. And so we are piloting many new initiatives with the different roles of the site coordinator, I think is one effort because if teacher candidates can't come to Lubbock to go to Texas Tech University brick and mortar, if they can't go to another educator preparation program, because maybe they have families, maybe they can't move. We bring the teacher preparation to them. So that is definitely one way. Um another pilot that we are working on that is, I say pilot, but it's really going full force, is we're taking prayer professionals and we are saying, okay, we've identified paraprofessionals already work in the district. They are most likely a part of the community. They um are supporters and um enthusiastic for education. Maybe they want to become teachers, maybe they want to become certified. No, not all do. Some are very happy in their role as prayer professionals, and that's wonderful. But for those that do want to become a certified teacher, what can we do? Well, that has been a something we haven't been able to figure out because they need to remain in their paraprofessional role for salary, benefits for their family, which are all valid points, and we've not been able to figure that out. And so thankfully, recently we have rule within the state allows an educator preparation program to utilize their uh paraprofessional training as part of their um experience within like student teaching residency. And so we're piloting a program where we work with districts and paraprofessionals can remain in their role, still meeting high quality mentor teacher. They're in an instructional setting in their certification area. And then for a certain portion of the day, they're able to take off their paraprofessional hat, put on their teacher candidate hat, and the district is allowing this. So that's kind of the buy-in and the give and take. Be able to become a teacher candidate during that time. That's when the side coordinator then is coming to observe them, coach them, provide feedback. And so they're able to simultaneously stay in their role as paraprofessional, provide for their family, but they're also then able to learn and become a highly qualified teacher, ultimately being certified. So I think that's one huge way we are trying. Another is we dipped our toe into Alt Cert. So alternative alternative certification programs, I think, are the majority of our certification in the state of Texas, the last statistic I heard. While um there not all alternative certification programs are created equally, there are some that are great, and there are some, unfortunately, that are not. So when we created ours, I think three to four years ago, we took the key components that make TechTeach successful and we adapted them into an Alt CERT program. And so we now are able to offer that program anywhere where we have a site coordinator as well. And what makes ours different is that from my experience from hearing from other people that went through an Alt CERT program since I did myself, is they were supported by someone from the company or the organization minimally, whatever the minimum requirement was. Whereas our site coordinator, same with our teacher candidates and tech teach, they live in the communities, they're there supporting them. The support just looks different because they're teachers of record. Right. So they might be actually co-teaching alongside them. That's what a lot of times our site coordinators will do or go to their um attend their professional development or their um professional learning communities or planning meetings with them. So they're whisper coaching right next to them, helping interpret what they're learning and how this could be applied.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

Explain to the audience, because I'm not sure everybody is familiar on what the steps are to become so the different levels. So you're you're uh a student and then you're you go into just explain the road to becoming a certified.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Absolutely. So let's say you're a high school student and you say, I want to become a teacher. Um, two options. You can um immediately be admitted into Texas Tech University if that's what you would like, you know, traditional four-year college. Um, you would say, I want to become a teacher, you would be advised to go to the college of education. Then from there, your advisor would step by step walk you through. That's like probably most the most seamless because we work within the same institution, just makes it very, very easy. Um, not all students want or able to go to a four-year university right out of high school, so they can go to a community college immediately. Uh say you want you want your arm, I want to be a teacher, they'll get them with an education advisor. We have articulation agreements, which what that means, um, I think I say it's a fancy word to ensure that the courses they take there transfer, but also support the content we want them to come with to then start our educator preparation program their junior year. So they could stay at a community college, take those courses, become successful, and then transfer into Tech Teach. We have a two-year traditional program for teacher candidates that um, you know, want their summers while they're still attending college and just that traditional fall, spring, fall, spring semester kind of setup. But we also have a one-year. So that's another way we're trying to be responsive. We've realized not everybody wants that traditional college setting. So if you're in that um realm, you can do what we call our two plus one. It's an intensive one-year program. So it's all the quality I shared about before, same expectations. It's just condensed into one year. So this might be for someone that has a family or that is just a non-traditional student and would like to become certified quicker. So they have those pathways. Let's say you want to be a teacher, but you went into a different field for, you know, life has this funny way of taking us in different places. And so you have a degree, but you would like to become a teacher. That's where our Al CER program would then come into play. So they would just contact the College of Education. Um, we have a website, the advisor would immediately take care of them, see if there's any coursework they needed. Uh, there's admission steps, of course, to make sure they have the content knowledge needed to be successful in the area they want to teach. And then we would provide them an option of the district partners in which we have relationships with.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

And I want to clarify, okay, explain to me what a paraprofessional is.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Okay, I will I will say paraprofessionals are defined very differently amongst every uh school district I've attended, and we have 40 plus district partners. So forgive me. Well, give us in the general. Absolutely. A paraprofessional is someone hired by the school district that support is in a supporting role in education, anywhere from a special education course, maybe into um a mainstream course where they support the teacher can't, the the teacher of record in anything in between.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Um it could be so like a teacher's aid, correct, potentially. That would probably be a general. What about, yeah, or what about somebody that was in administration?

SPEAKER_02 28:30

Administration means uh that they've already been a teacher. I believe the state requires two years.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

That's true. The state does require that to be an administration.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

So if you're an administrator, you have to have been a teacher for two years, I believe. It was three years when I first started. So I think it's two years now, and then you can become an administrator. And that would require then a master's degree.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

So the paraprofessionals are kind of in the classroom, but kind of assistant teaching. Um, and then the alt certification, that is for people who have been teaching but were never certified, potentially, or have a degree at least.

SPEAKER_02 29:00

Okay. Have a four year bachelor's degree, but you would like to become a teacher. Yes. So then you don't need to go to our undergrad program because you already have a bachelor's. So that's why we have an alt cert.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

So that kind of brings us full circle to we're doing great things, and you can do the alt certification to get more certified teachers, and you can bring bring paraprofessionals into it. Um, I know this last legislative session, there was some money given to the alt certification, and obviously more money went toward teachers, which is great. 60% of HB2 is dedicated directly for teachers, um, and that's $8.5 billion of additional funding. So that should really help teachers who desperately deserve it and desperately need it. But it still takes additional money. So I don't want to leave Callie out of this conversation. I think we're time for Callie to pop in here. But I think what is so fascinating is that there are lots of people out there who have seen the problem and who want to be a solution to the problem. And they are doing so through philanthropic efforts. Callie, talk a little bit about what's happening with the Texas Tech program with Tech Teach and the philanthropy.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

So over the last six, seven years, we've received over $60 million in philanthropic funds to support high-quality teacher preparation in Texas. That's incredible. And that's because we have individual donors and foundations who believe in this work across the state, but also here in Lubbock. We work very closely with the CH Foundation here in Lubbock. And so when House Bill Two was passed, part of the requirements for the prep allotment is for residents to be paid, residents, teacher candidates, the district has to provide them with $10,000 towards their stipend and the state will match that. How do districts, especially rural districts, come up with $10,000 per teaching candidate in their district? Well, the CH Foundation stepped up and said, we will provide half of the $10,000 to these certain districts. That's great. So that teacher candidates can be paid. We know that when teacher candidates are paid in the district, they feel wanted. Yes. They have a sense of belonging, they want to be there. And for the district, what a minimal investment in that individual to then create your teacher pipeline. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

And to get even better qualified teachers. To get better qualified teachers. Because now they've taught in the classroom before they're solo. So, and and I know that's been a big part of it because as you said, um, Sherry, there are people who want to be teachers, but financially they need to have another job. This is now allowing these student teachers to start getting compensated while they're still student teachers so that someone maybe who's already had their family and really has a need, or I mean, heck, everybody has a need. You have to pay for food, right? Um they can get paid while they're in the classroom doing their student teaching. I guess up to $20,000.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Up to $20,000. So half of that is coming from the district and half of that is coming from the state. But even before House Bill 2, we have a great foundation that believes in education in West Texas. We were paying teacher candidates before House Bill 2. Oh, good. I love that. And so Sherry and I We were leading the way. We were. We were. And Sherry and I were visiting with Idaloo ISD a couple of weeks ago, and their leadership said when Texas Tech came to us and said, we have received this philanthropic gift to support teacher preparation in West Texas. We can provide you with X number of student stipends, X number in student scholarships, and provide support for the mentor, teacher, and site coordinator. They jumped on board. Now, five years later, they are complimenting us because they said verbatim, if you hadn't come to this, we would have never thought about creating our own pipeline. And now we have a pipeline for our district.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

That's awesome. That's awesome. CH Foundation, I love them. They are so fabulous. They're great. How are you finding other people to come alongside and support? Or can other people come alongside?

SPEAKER_01 33:21

They can always come along and support. Sherry shared that we have sites across the state. One of our most successful sites is Fort Worth. And so there are some great partners in Fort Worth who've been providing scholarship and stipend support for our students in Fort Worth ISD who want to teach in Fort Worth ISD. Many of these students are economically disadvantaged. They are placed in schools that they likely went to. Now we're paying them and we're giving them scholarship support. That teacher candidate will graduate from Texas Tech, will be a highly qualified teacher, and they will likely work in Fort Worth ISD for the rest of their career. They're truly growing their own. We've seen that success there. We've seen that success in Midland. This year we're expanding and having our principal fellows program in Midland. It models tech teach, but it's for principals.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

We now have philanthropic support to support individuals in Midland ISD who want to earn a master's degree and to walk alongside campus leadership for an entire year so that they can be a highly effective principal.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

I love that. I I just I can't tell you how much I love the fact that you guys have brought a program that is partnering with the student teacher or the student principal so that they're in the classroom, but they've got the help because I think that makes such a huge difference, not just for them and having the confidence, right? Because you it's one thing when you're thrown into it and you just have to figure it out, but to be able to walk alongside somebody the whole year so you see all aspects of it and then and then launch yourself, right? But it's also it has to be helping the kids because they're just getting a better quality.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

Absolutely. We do have some research conducted by Dr. Jacob Kirksey and Dr. Jessica Gottley within our College of Education at Texas Tech University, where it does show the impact of our teacher candidates. So it shows that teacher or K-12 students that are supported by our teacher candidates in the areas of math and reading have higher achievement than those of teachers that are uh supported or prepared elsewhere. So it really does show that we were doing that. We need to Texas Tech.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Yes. And yay for doing the research. Yeah, we appreciate that. Well, all of it, all of it. Um I'm really impressed that Texas Tech before this became a hot topic, which it is obviously, um, gosh, y'all have been doing this 14 years. You started revamping the program 14 years ago. And based on everything I'm hearing in the field, it is absolutely working. And now you've got the research to prove it, which I love. So, how do we expand this program, right? How do we expand it into other school districts and get it across the state, but also across the country?

SPEAKER_01 36:05

It's really twofold when we have to have funding support for it. And so we've had foundations step up and support individual districts with site coordinator support and with mentor teacher support. The state is going to take so much of that on under House Bill 2. We are grateful for that. There are still needs for those individuals to serve those districts. I think Sherry would echo that. We also need more scholarship dollars for students, right? Texas Tech, we have a number of options that students can go through. They can get their AAT and then come to us. That's our Associates of Arts and Teaching. They can also do a traditional program. Those paths cost money for kids. Yes. Right. We need to support our teachers as much as we can. We are very fortunate in the College of Education. We set up students for success academically, but also financially. Every student who graduates from the College of Education gets a $1,000 scholarship when they graduate to set them up for success after graduation. So maybe they use it to buy tires. Maybe they use it to set up their classroom. That is the power of philanthropy. And in education, there has been a mindset of lack. There's not enough for teachers. We have to ration paper for our teachers. How can we change this to a mindset of abundance and support our teachers, giving them high-quality teacher preparation, making sure they have funds to be set up for success after they graduate, giving them the physical supplies they need once they graduate and after they graduate and have been in the classroom for a couple of years. If we can change education from a mindset of black to a mindset of abundance and showcase the great work that teachers do, how many more students will want to become teachers. Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

And like for me, I think, you know, lots of people can sit there and say, oh, there's a problem with the education system. And it and I always say this it is the system that has the problem. It's not the teachers. And I love that Texas Tech is doing an even better job getting teachers closer to being certified and getting more of them certified. But I also love the alt cert. So if you've been in the program or around the program, you can come back and get certified. So now basically I hear you saying we need more philanthropy. We need our communities to start stepping up. So those of us who recognize that there has been a problem, we need to start stepping up to support these teachers when they're being taught to be a teacher and when they're coming back to get recertified. So how is the best way someone can go about that?

SPEAKER_01 38:57

First would be to contact me, uh, myself, or I have a great team underneath me. Um, there are a number of ways that we can support students in this work or teachers who are in the classroom. We want to celebrate all educators and support them how we can. If it's classroom supplies, um, we're launching an award this fall that's 40 under 40. Help us recognize really great educators who are in the classroom. Um, come alongside us. We want to bring in individuals to speak to our students who are passionate about education. The college of education is different, and I would say this is nationwide. When a student goes to a college of education, they think they have to be a teacher. That's the only thing I can do. That's not true. Okay. You can do a million things with a degree in education. You can go into administration, you can go into curriculum design, you can go into strategic planning for school boards. There are many different career options for students in education.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

I'm glad you said that because I I did not know that. I thought you're going in education, you're going to be a teacher. So I love that there are other options, especially like if you did do your year of well, you said in our junior year at tech that we put the students in the classroom, and that's earlier than it's been done. I think you were the first one to ever do that. And now you've got other colleges coming alongside you. And explain that a little bit because I think that will bring back to that.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Absolutely. So uh teacher candidates then uh start in a field placement junior year, they're in the classroom uh one day a week. I mean, 7:30 when the teacher's reporting, so they're able to see what a school day looks like from the teacher perspective. We've all been students, but we haven't seen it from the teacher perspective. We do that in an effort to really show teacher candidates this is what teaching looks like, and it lets them know and it affirms their decision early on, or for a very slight few, it lets them realize maybe this wasn't for me and allows them to make a change earlier. But they're in that classroom full day, experiencing what it's like to be a teacher, but not just an observational role. They are co-teaching. The co-teaching is, you know, more of the mentor teacher leading and them taking an assistant or observation role, but still working alongside that mentor teacher. And then it just gains in um more uh effort by this, the teacher candidate, more ownership of the teacher candidate as they progress through the program.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

And if they love it, then they get to go do more of it. And if they don't, they have options still in the Department of Education for other jobs that are not necessarily in the classroom. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 41:25

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

So that's great. And and or, you know, heaven forbid, they decide they want to go into finance at that point in time. They at least are in their junior year and then they can transfer to a different program. But okay, so you mentioned that people who would like to help. Yes. And I'm hoping that there are a lot of the viewers out there that would like to help can contact the Tech Tech, you're the development director at the Department of Education. Tell them how to specifically get a hold of you.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

So they can email me, Callie, K-A-L-L-I-E.Covington, C-O-V-I-N-G-T-O-N at T T U dot Edu. That would be the best way to get a hold of me. When we talk about the impact of dollars on students, it's not just, oh, we gave them a scholarship, student goes on their merry way. When we hear from students of I'm a single mom, this scholarship allowed me not to worry about my kids' daycare bill for this month.

SPEAKER_03 42:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

I am going to school on my own, my family's not supporting me. Your scholarship allows me to chase my dreams. I've always wanted to be a teacher, and now I have a pathway to do it. These are the types of students that scholarships are going to. The impact that that scholarship will have on that individual by allowing them to have a high quality education to then go out and make a big impact on their students day one. That impact, it's not just on that student, it's on hundreds of students that that one student will serve throughout their career.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

Correct. So that's one way that they can. They can give scholarships directly to students in the Department of Education that want to be teachers. That's right. But there's also the ability for them to help you fund the site coordinators. Yes. And like how what does that program look like?

SPEAKER_01 43:10

So that typically looks like still working through me. Um, and we usually work alongside the district in that with Sherry. Okay. So it's more of a tri-party effort, I would say.

SPEAKER_02 43:22

The only thing I would add to that is if districts are aware of, because one of my roles is to set up a partnership with districts. And we always talk about kind of two big buckets we need. We need teacher candidates, potential districts are helpful in identifying who in their community, it might be a parent, might be a paraprofessional, like we shared, that want to become teachers. And then also the role of the site coordinator. And so if districts want to partner with Tech Teach, if they're listening and they know of a philanthropy in their community, they can help us make the connection as well. But again, through Cali or myself would be a great place to start.

SPEAKER_00 43:54

Okay, Sherry, tell them how to get in touch with us. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

Similar to Callie would be Sherry essay. H E R R E dot Hyder H E I D E R at T T U dot Edu.

SPEAKER_00 44:06

Okay. And so a school district that maybe is not today partnering with Texas Tech can come to you, Sherry, and they can say we want a partner. And then they can find a philanthropy group or an individual in their local community that's willing to help them fund to start paying the student teachers and doing all of how does that work?

SPEAKER_02 44:28

Absolutely. So they reach out to me. It starts with either a quick Zoom call or if they're close in proximity, we'll get together face to face. And I just take them through all the different models that I shared with you. Does the district have maybe a faculty member that the their plate is not 100% full? I laugh at that. Which educator does not have a full plate, but perhaps there is a maybe there's someone who wants to change what their role is. Correct, correct. That may um the the district might say, I find value in this, and this this faculty member could serve as the site coordinator. And so then that box would be checked. They would become an employee of Texas Tech, they would be trained in my department, and then we would then um recruit and identify teacher candidates, prospective teacher candidates. And so then they would work with our recruiting department. However, as Callie alluded to, the funding is important. Um, you know, if if if there were just a many teacher candidates out there, prospective teacher candidates, they would find an educator preparation program, but it typically is the support, the scholarships, the funding that really help them take that leap, I would say, and then join an educator preparation program.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

And I would think that part of that, I love how you said the teacher, the school districts are creating their own teacher pipelines. Are they starting with these students that are currently in their high schools and encouraging them, right? So it's it's a full program of starting your own teacher pipeline. I want to really go over this because I want school districts that aren't doing this yet to think in this way. You can find students who are already living in your district. They might be actual students, encourage them to go to college, possibly, hopefully, come to Texas Tech University because we've got a great program, and then set up the site coordinators and the program where they come back and become student teachers in your own school district and with philanthropy from people in your in your local communities.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

Well, and part of House Build 2 does have the grow your own portion of LASO 4, where it does provide funding for those early educator, you know, uh ready-set teach courses for your juniors or seniors that have said, Hey, you know, I might want to be a teacher. And so it helps provide funding for for those teacher candidates in that role and as well as pre-paraprofessionals. So that's one other area that districts can be for.

SPEAKER_00 46:42

That's great. It's it's always fascinating to me when you have these big education bills. And we we had two last year. There was SB2 and then HB2 is a really big bill, and it's very voluminous. It's got a lot of programs inside of it. I love that we're helping to break down a little bit more of it for people because sometimes you you don't know all of the things inside of it that could really help you. And school districts need to spend a lot of time breaking that down so that they can understand where the money is for them. So that's right.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

And a big portion of HV2 was continuing the teacher incentive allotment. We at Texas Tech are big fans of the teacher incentive allotment and we work alongside TEA in administering that program. Good. The data shows from Dr. Kirksy and Dr. Gottlieb that our graduates are more likely than any other graduate from any other educational preparation program to earn a TIA designation. So if you come to Texas Tech, you will be highly prepared, highly effective in the classroom. You will make more money.

SPEAKER_00 47:49

Good. And so just to clarify, the TIA, it's the teacher incentive allotment. And that is the portion, because for viewers out there that don't know, teachers make money based on how many years they have taught historically. So if you're a five-year teacher, you make a certain amount of money. If you're a 10-year teacher, you make a certain amount of money. And they started TIA, teacher incentive allotment a few years ago, but it was not widely used. And HB2 provided a lot more additional funding for the TIAs. And so now teachers who do well in the classroom, who prepare their students well, are able to make a merit-based pay allotment, a teacher incentive allotment that allows them to make more money based on being a really good teacher, which I think I love at the capitalist system. I think I think that's really great. And those teachers who are doing the good work and who are preparing their teachers, they should be paid more.

SPEAKER_01 48:42

And it allows districts to hold their teachers to a higher standard. We were talking with a local district. They have 75 teachers who are TIA eligible. Love it. 64 earned it. I can guarantee that the 11 who didn't have their goal set on earning TIA next year.

SPEAKER_00 49:01

And for me, just like with SB1, which SB1 was the parent choice bill. What I love about the teacher incentive allotment is that it encourages competition, right? You're trying, you're constantly trying to be better. And I think that's just the way that as Americans, we were all raised to be. And it's finally actually getting to the teachers are being incentivized and they're getting paid for doing that better work. And they they deserve that.

SPEAKER_01 49:27

And if I was a fifth grade teacher and I was exceptional at my job, and there's another fifth grade teacher in a classroom right next to me, and they do the bare minimum. They need some more support. There's room for growth. And we're getting the same pay.

SPEAKER_00 49:46

I would be mad if I was the teacher doing more. And I would think, why am I doing this? And yet now, because of the teacher incentive allotment, they will actually be compensated for doing that work, for being the good teacher that they are and going above and beyond.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

And this teacher who needs more support, are we now then going to motivate them to lift up and be a better teacher? That's my prayer.

SPEAKER_00 50:07

That's my prayer. That's all of our prayers. So SP1, the parent choice bill, that's why I supported because I think the schools and the school districts should be incentivized to do better as well. And then now with the teacher incentive allotment, we're we're incentivizing the individual teachers to do better. And I think that can only end up helping the kids. That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

And we have conversations with districts, and some have said, oh, well, we're not, we're not doing TIA. And some will say, no, no, we're all in on TIA. I heard from a policy group in Austin, and this has never left me. They said districts will complain that the state is not giving them enough. You're not doing enough, you're not doing enough, you're not doing enough. Then the state does implement programs to support districts. Let's use TIA, for example. And then districts don't sign on to it, but yet they're still screaming at legislators and saying, you're not enough funding. We don't have enough funding. And there's not controversy. There's no, there's not controversy. There is controversy in TIA for some districts with how they're implementing. It's not perfect. Right. But it is good. And we need districts and school leaders across the state to realize that the legislature is their friend. And if you work well with them, you probably will get more. Right. Which is better for your teachers, your staff, and at the end of the day, the kids that are in your district.

SPEAKER_00 51:33

Absolutely. I 100% agree with that. I think so much of the time you hear, oh, we're not getting enough funding, or oh, the parent choice bill is awful. And I think sometimes that is being pushed by one side. And you really, as a teacher, as someone who's in the school system, even as a parent and even as a school board member, you really need to go and do your own research because they're a really great, the the legislature is your friend and they really are trying to help. And sometimes it's just that you're not taking all of the options out of the bills that they are doing or doing them the right way. And so that's something that people really need to investigate because there are some good things coming from the legislature and they're working really hard. I think we passed over 30, they we they passed over 30 bills this last session that should be improving the classroom, improving the life of the teachers, and hopefully providing better outcomes for the students. That's right. And so um, well, I know that you've got a hard stop and we've got, I think we could keep talking a lot longer. Um, so that is just a a tip of the iceberg on what's going on. But one more time, tell them, each of you, take the time to say the last thing that you want to say if there's anything else, and remind them how to get in touch with you.

SPEAKER_02 52:50

Go ahead, Sherry. I will start. Uh, truly, our mission is every K-12 student deserves a highly qualified teacher at Tech Teach. It's a great option. But there are other great EPPs out there. We want to partner with them. We want to take what we've learned, spread it. We want to learn from others. Because at the end of the day, they really do deserve a highly qualified teacher.

SPEAKER_00 53:08

Well, and I love that because you're right. We should all set our goal every day to be better than we were yesterday. And I love that you've got this program, but I love that you are willing to work with other universities, other programs to share what you know know, but also take in what they're doing good. And I love that. Now remind them how to get a hold of you.

SPEAKER_02 53:30

Yes, my email is sherry s h-e r-r-e dot hider h-e-i-d-e-r at ttu.edu.

SPEAKER_01 53:38

Perfect. All right, Callie. When you support a student in the College of Education at Texas Tech, you're not just supporting that student. You're supporting the students that they will serve throughout their lifetime. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 53:50

That is amazing.

unknown 53:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

So if you want to be a part of this movement and supporting the future educators of Texas, you can reach me at Cali, K-A-L-L-I-E dot Covington, C-O-V, I-N-G-T-O-N at T T U.edu.

SPEAKER_00 54:04

Wonderful. Well, thank you, ladies, both for being here today. And as your programs develop and more things come to light, I know that y'all are constantly moving forward, trying to improve things. Please come back and visit with us and for sure come back and tell us other ways that people can get involved with philanthropy and helping a teacher, helping a student become a teacher, or helping a paraprofessional become a teacher, or helping a teacher become a certified teacher. Please reach out to both these ladies for any additional information or to help with those dollars that are so desperately needed. And with that, we're going to make it a wrap today. I hope that you'll come back and see us next time. See you then.