The Delhi Unified School District is giving their educators a lesson on the art of teaching through a five-day training exercise.

The Teacher Incentive Fund, a federal grant program that was awarded to DUSD through an $8.1 million grant over a period of five years is designed to support innovative approaches to reforming teacher pay, supports performance-based compensation systems for teachers and administrators in high-needs schools.

“Through the training we are learning that in order to improve student academic growth, there needs to be an increase in educator effectiveness,” said Superintendant Brian Stephens.   “By doing so, we need to implement student learning objectives and observe instructional practice.”

Typically evaluative by nature, teacher observation is usually linked to classroom performance. More schools are using observation as a new form of professional development that improves teaching practices and student performance.

The training is being conducted by two national organizations. The Community Training and Assistance Center is a national not-for-profit organization that focuses on developing leadership, planning and managerial expertise. Teaching Learning Solutions is an organization that designs and develops teacher evaluation models.

 “I’ve been an educator for 30 years and through these couple of days, the level of training that we are receiving is one of the best I have ever experienced,” Stephens said. “Through the CTAC and TLS, student achievement will increase in Delhi.”