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Head Start coordinator to help improve classroom instruction
A new position created within the Public School System’s Head Start Program will seek to improve quality of instruction in the Commonwealth’s preschool classrooms.
Under the newly revised organization chart, amended in a PSS board meeting last month, the practice-based coach coordinator will serve as an on-site overseer of teachers in classroom on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.
In an interview last week, Board of Education chair Herman Guerrero described the coordinator’s role as one of a “master teacher” who would tap his or her own experiences in mentoring teachers within the Head Start program.
Melissa Palacios, director of the Head Start program, earlier said the role will help ensure school-readiness as teachers will receive additional support in conducting their instructions in the classroom.
She said the coordinator will provide one-on-one coaching with the teachers, make observations during teacher instruction, and assess the quality of feedback between teacher and child.
“As result of the data collected, we’ll make recommendations for additional program improvement in support of school readiness,” she said.
The coordinator, according to her, will be required to assess classrooms daily, consult and coach teachers, provide individualized teacher plans for improvements, and report back to Head Start administration on observations collected.
“We plan to do a pre-observation as soon as school opens and then come back to report on what the classrooms look like, how the teachers are performing in the classroom with regard to the teacher-child interactions and then from there we will put a plan together with regards to where the teachers need more support, which centers, which classrooms [need more support],” Palacios said.
Guerrero said even teachers who have been teaching a long time could benefit from this mentorship.
He likened the program to the PowerWalkthrough mentor and coaching program used in grades K-12.
According to Palacios, there will be one coordinator observing classrooms on all three islands.
