New academic standards have raised the bar for instruction. Transforming Teams helps educators meet this challenge, building strong teams capable of improving teaching and learning. Participants choose a course of study aligned to their needs. Together, they put what they are learning into practice right away to advance school goals.
Transforming Teams emphasizes purposeful learning as participants plan instruction collaboratively and strive to advance school priorities. Partners may add supplemental on-site support that enriches the core training.
Transforming Teams provides affordable access to our library of online tutorials and case studies, all research-based and designed to support implementation of college- and career-readiness standards.
Participants learn to lead focused meetings and master practices common to high-functioning instructional teams, such as setting standards-aligned goals and using data to guide strategy.
Why Transforming Teams?
Instructional teams fall short of ambitious goals when they lack a shared framework for collaboration. Transforming Teams builds critical leadership skills and deepens content expertise, empowering educators to work better, together, to meet higher academic standards.
The program ensures that teams plan instruction together, teaches them to lead through change, and fosters a culture where they hold one another accountable for success. Through guided study and application, these habits become part of the team’s DNA, delivering lasting benefits for students.
Teacher collaboration boosts achievement, but very few schools have effective models
Meeting a Higher Bar
Using case studies and lessons drawn from online tutorials, participants plan standards-aligned lessons and assessments that will enable students to meet newly rigorous expectations. The program also includes real-time assessments and interactive feedback to ensure the entire team is aligned in efforts to improve teaching.
of teams say the program helped them make meaningful instructional change
A Personalized Approach
Transforming Teams allows participants to choose a course of study tailored to their school’s unique priorities. We offer multiple learning pathways, including deep dives into Common Core standards in math or English language arts. This approach ensures that teams can focus their learning exactly where it is needed.
of teams say the program helped them to collaborate more effectively
Flexible Solutions for Diverse Needs
Transforming Teams allows our partners to choose from a menu of program models to find a solution that aligns with their needs and budget.
All participants enjoy subscription access to our online content library, but partners may opt to supplement that training with additional support, such as on-site professional development or office hours with a New Leaders Advisor. We also offer a more robust engagement where we train local leaders as Transforming Teams Advisors. That approach cultivates effective collaboration within participating schools, while building the expertise to grow those practices across school systems for many years to come.
Like many districts, Shelby County Schools values teacher collaboration and shared leadership, but they also know schools need support to achieve those conditions. To ensure time invested in teacher collaboration is truly productive, they hired Professional Learning Community coaches for every school and partnered with New Leaders to develop a customized Transforming Teams program to prepare coaches in leading that work.
Heather Bee, a first-year coach, attributes positive changes at her school to that training. “New Leaders gave me the framework to approach this work systematically.” The first thing Bee tackled was cultivating a growth mindset and a can-do attitude among adults and students alike. After Bee’s Transforming Teams advisor led her and the other coaches through a deep dive into Tennessee’s academic standards, Bee brought that learning back to her school, holding twice-weekly meetings to guide teachers through data analysis and instructional planning. She also introduced learning walks to observe classrooms, with a focus on assessing whether instruction was appropriately challenging and standards-aligned.
Today, Bee says collaboration is the norm. Teachers have regular meetings to review data and have developed strong working relationships across grade levels. “The whole team feels empowered.”
“Transforming teams gave me the knowledge, the tools, and a clear roadmap for how to do this job. I had teachers step up and start taking the lead who had been very quiet before. It really built leadership capacity at the school."