Louisiana Sees Results From State Commitment to Building Educator Capacity

NIET works with school districts across Louisiana to build instructional and leadership capacity and to support the implementation of high-quality curricula. In partnership with district and school leaders, we are helping to build school-based leadership teams and train teacher leaders to lead weekly professional learning and classroom coaching. Teacher leaders are a key lever of change, leading school-based professional learning around how to use high-quality curricula to support student success. School-based professional learning is directly aligned with district support, creating greater consistency and coherence for teachers.

NIET’s work is expanding statewide 

Based on the success of this work, the Louisiana Department of Education partnered with NIET to deliver statewide training and on-site support for districts to successfully implement best practices. In addition, NIET is supporting the statewide rollout of a new observation and support system built on evidence-based teaching and learning standards and a process for providing teachers and school leaders with timely and accurate feedback for improvement. This new approach to evaluation responds to teachers’ requests for higher quality, actionable, and more frequent feedback. 

A comprehensive approach to school success shows results 

NIET supports each district based on its unique needs and works to build alignment toward measurable goals. For example, DeSoto Parish Schools in northwest Louisiana has worked with NIET for more than a decade. Through building the skills of teacher leaders and school leaders to guide school improvement, they continually evolved their practices, resulting in the district moving from 45th in the state in 2009 to sixth in the state, and being one of only seven districts with an “A” rating in 2022.

Another longtime NIET partner, Ascension Public Schools, outperformed the state in every subject on the 2023 Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP), topping the state performance in each tested subject by 16 to 19 points. Additionally, 51% of Ascension students scored at the level of mastery and above across the four subjects tested, with 61% of students achieving mastery and above in English language arts. The results in our partner districts illustrate the power of investing in great classroom teaching and building the capacity of teachers and leaders.

NIET’s partnerships have put in place systems for high-impact professional learning and classroom coaching to make great classroom teaching accessible for every student. Teacher leaders are a core part of our partners’ success across Louisiana, with many teacher leaders moving into school and district leadership roles that provide opportunities for continuing improvement in instruction and student success.

About the 2023 NIET Annual Report

The 2023 NIET Annual Report highlights key milestones and achievements over the past year as we have supported partners around the country in building the capacity of educators and unleashing the power of teacher leadership. Read about NIET’s partnerships across the country and how these partnerships are leading to significant impacts on student achievement in the full report here.