Commack achieves goals with help from designer courses from ELT

Commack Teachers Association is ready to meet ambitious recruitment and retention goals – thanks in part to two courses customized just for them by NYSUT’s Education & Learning Trust, the union’s professional development arm.

“Professional development is important to our members because as educators, we’re always learning and growing so we can meet our students where they’re at and help them continue to develop,” said Joseph Bisulca, Commack TA president, and a high school math teacher.

The Commack Union Free School District, a 5,000-student district straddling the Long Island towns of Huntington and Smithtown, is facing an unprecedented wave of teacher retirements. Over the next four years, the district expects to lose 40 teachers a year to retirement – or about 33 percent of their teaching staff. As administrators and union leadership strategized about how to effectively fill those positions, they kept coming back to enhancing their professional development program.

“We have an aging membership and as some members retire, we want to be sure that we’re continuing the same great culture we’ve always had at Commack,” said Bisulca.

“The district was studying how we market ourselves to the new educators coming into the field, and how we keep members,” said CTA member Christina Eannuzzi, a teacher at North Ridge Primary School. “They’ve done a lot of research on what this generation wants, and they are saying they want a more inclusive workplace, where they feel supported and valued.”

During a mentor training program hosted by the curriculum development team, Eannuzzi, who is an ELT instructor, suggested that ELT courses might be a good way to meet the district’s evolving staff needs. “Looking at ways that the district can invest in their teachers made sense,” she said.

For Jennifer Santorello, curriculum associate for the district, it was a lightbulb moment. “During job fairs, candidates consistently ask about professional development opportunities,” she said. “People have told us over and over again that they want to be in a place where they can keep learning.”

While the district already had a comprehensive four-year training program for all new teachers, they didn’t offer grad-level courses, and Santorello thought this might be just the thing to set themselves apart from competitors.

Expanding professional development also represented a way to bridge the institutional knowledge gaps that the retiring teachers will leave while at the same time shoring up school culture. “We can pick courses that align with our goals and our vision for Commack’s future,” Santorello said.

After reviewing the catalogue alongside their priorities, Santorello and her colleagues selected two courses: “Great Teaching By Design” and “Activating a Motivated and Engaged Brain,” both taught by Eannuzzi.

“There’s something very valuable about having a fellow Commack teacher lead the class. I know the district, and I can really tailor the course to do what they need,” Eannuzzi said.

In “Great Teaching By Design,” offered this past fall, Eannuzzi taught Commack colleagues about the crucial role empathy plays in learning and growth, and how they can plan curriculum, instruction and assessment for optimal outcomes.

In “Activating the Motivated and Engaged Brain,” which Eannuzzi will teach in the spring, educators will find out how to improve student attention, engagement, and perseverance, by activating the innate seeking system in the brain.

The courses are each worth 3 graduate credits or 45 in-service CTLE hours, and as an extra incentive for participating, the district offered all participants 7 credits toward salary advancement.

So far, feedback on the ELT program has been overwhelmingly positive, said Eannuzzi. “I love teaching ELT courses both because of what I learn, and what I get to share with others.”

In fact, Commack TA members were so enthusiastic about the initial course that the district already has two more planned for next year.

“The Commack TA is proud of our members and their accomplishments and how their hard work is impacting the students of Commack,” said Bisulca.