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Arcadia describes team‑teaching model, teaching‑fellow pipeline and professional development to TEA panel
Summary
Arcadia presented a team‑teaching, data‑driven high‑school model to TEA: each teaching team includes an expert teacher, a lead teacher and multiple teaching fellows; the design pairs HQIM with weekly PD, daily data dives and an internal pipeline to certify local teaching fellows.
Arcadia Schools told TEA its instructional design centers on team teaching, frequent data review, high‑quality instructional materials and a local pipeline of teaching fellows who may pursue certification over time.
Proposed superintendent Mohammed Maroof described three core priorities: research‑backed instructional practice led by expert teachers, redesigned classroom structure with team teaching, and community ties with real‑time supports. He said the school plans an expert teacher, a lead teacher and three teaching fellows per team and a target 12:1 student:teacher ratio. "Research shows teacher effectiveness is the single most important in‑school factor for student achievement," Maroof told the panel as he explained why the model emphasizes expert teacher leadership.
Arcadia described a substantive professional‑development cadence: teams will hold a two‑hour weekly planning meeting to prepare the two daily instruction blocks and a second two‑hour practice PD session in the same week for rehearsals; teachers will participate in daily data meetings and weekly or quarterly full‑day PD sessions for deeper work. Applicants said they will adopt HQIM (high‑quality instructional materials) and use tightly chunked lesson objectives to identify misconceptions and quickly target reteach activities.
The board described a multi‑pathway approach to staffing the teaching‑fellow role. Applicants said they are in conversations with universities and certification programs (applicants named ASU and University of St. Thomas among organizations they have discussed) to create affordable or cost‑neutral certification routes for fellows. Teaching fellows will lead short, structured small‑group instructional “chunks” under the guidance of the expert teacher; the expert teacher will coach fellows in one‑on‑one meetings and during planning and data blocks. The applicants said the model provides scheduled practice, feedback and an internal pipeline that will allow promising fellows to move into lead or expert roles over time.
On classroom technology, applicants said automated tools will be used to sort student work rapidly into instructor‑defined categories to speed teacher review, not to replace human grading or instructional decisions. In response to a State Board question about automated scoring, a team member said the intention is to use technology as “a support to our teachers and a time‑saving device, not a replacement for teachers in any way.”
