YOUR DISTRICT SHOULD CONSIDER A COHORT LEADER - HERE'S WHY

As mentioned in my previous blog posting Comprehensive vs. Blended: Which Reading Academies Model Should Your District Choose, I discussed two Reading Academy delivery methods.  Within selecting a specific delivery method for content, TEA allows districts to select a 'Cohort Leader' to locally implement your reading academies content without relying on the Authorized Provider to provide a cohort leader.  This leader works within the district (employed by the district, not the Authorized Provider) and is responsible for delivering the content, artifact grading, teacher walkthroughs, coaching cycles, attending TEA and Authorized Provider training, and reporting grade finalization. Remember, in an earlier post, I equated the Reading Academies to a college-level course; therefore, the cohort leader is like the college professor.  They deliver the content, grade, and meet all requirements that are set for the academies. Now that you may be interested in finding a cohort leader for your district let's talk about the process that has been set forth to become a cohort leader.

📣  The process of becoming a cohort leader:

-  There is a short "pre-screener" required before advancing to the regular screener modules in Canvas.

- The participant registers for the screener (note: there are set dates called "screener windows" by                 TEA; therefore, one cannot just register and take the screener whenever they choose).

- Participants must take the TEA Cohort Leader Screener (approximately 3-5 hours to complete) (screener is housed in Canvas and a 7-day window to get the screener complete).

- Pass/Fail notifications are sent out to the participants upon completing the 7-day window and grading     the screener artifacts (an 80% or higher is set as a passing score on each section of the screener).'

- Upon notification of passing the cohort screener, one can become a  cohort leader TEA Reading Academies cohort leader 🎉.

- Once the participant passes the screener and is employed, they will have to attend the initial 3-day TEA cohort leader training to learn content and implementation.

📣  5 Key reasons why your district should get a cohort leader:

1. Control the delivery of content (dates/time) with no travel to the authorized provider location.
2. All of your staff will be guaranteed to be in the same cohort with the same cohort leader.
3. Can have co-leaders under the cohort leader to assist with walkthroughs and coaching (i.e., instructional coaches - note: they must also pass the cohort screener to be a co-leader).
4. Creates a cohesive and consistent implementation model with streamlined communication from the district and cohort leader.
5. Easy access to check the progress of participants for successful completion.

⌦ Do The Math

Finally, if your district is considering comprehensive, a cohort leader is finically the way to go! Sending participants from your district to an authorized provider, the cost is $3,000 per participant! So, let's do the math together!

Example using 25 participants

• Using an Authorized Provider:

$3,000 per participant X 25 participants = $75,000 to be paid to an authorized provider from the district for comprehensive reading academies.

•Implementing locally and hiring a cohort leader:

 25 participants = $12,000 set yearly fee paid to the authorized provider from the district

 Salary of the cohort leader - let's say $50,000 - $55,000 (not including any benefits the district may offer)

 You are saving $5,000 

    *Note the more participants in your local cohort, the more cost savings that occur.

Smaller districts may choose to use a cohort leader the first two years to get a bulk of their teachers trained and partner with an authorized provider to maximize their cost savings. 

Finally, smaller districts may get creative and benefit by banding together and creating a consortium. For example, three small districts are within 20 -30 minutes of each other. They would like to locally implement, but it is not finically possible to have a cohort leader. These three districts can create a consortium and hire one cohort leader to serve all three of their districts. One district serves as the financial agent while the other two pay into the district for the authorized provider fee and salary agreed upon for the cohort leader. Banding together is a great financial option for smaller districts! 

I hope this posting has provided you with cohort leader information to consider when Reading Academy planning occurs in your district for the 2021-2022 school year!