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the New Educators Support and Training (NEST) induction program. The CPSD is
an annual recipient of The Rapides Foundation (2022) Effective Schools Initiative
(ESI) grant, which provides $85,000 to the district. Part of these funds are used to
support the NEST program, originally developed in 2013 under the leadership of
Superintendent Dr. Gwile Freeman. In addition to the funds provided through the
ESI grant, the CPSD has also been awarded $15,000 from the Louisiana Department
of Education (LDOE; 2022b) through the New Teacher Experience (NTE) grant,
which is being used in full to support the work of the NEST program from July 2022
through June 2023. Dr. Tia Neal, a member
of Beta Chi Chapter
After Dr. Freeman’s retirement in 2019, Supervisor Dr. Tia Neal took over of Louisiana State
leadership of the NEST program to ensure that new teachers continued to receive Organization, is beginning
support through the ESI grant. Teachers who are new to the profession, as well as her 20th year as an
those who are new to the district, are invited to attend NEST meetings. The NEST educator. A supervisor in
participants include certified teachers and uncertified teachers, as well as those who a rural school district in
are certified but are teaching outside their field of certification. The NEST program Louisiana, she serves DKG
as the Northeast District
serves as a pathway for beginning teachers to communicate and collaborate with Director of Louisiana State
other teachers throughout the district, to learn about district policies and procedures, Organization. Dr. Neal also
and to build self-efficacy so that they can instruct and manage their classrooms teaches at the University
effectively and efficiently. of Louisiana at Monroe
in the field of gifted
Structure of NEST education.
Each school year, the CPSD plans five NEST meetings that are supported by the tianeal@catahoulaschools.
ESI grant. These meetings are strategically scheduled throughout the year to support com
teachers when they need it most. At the end of each meeting, participants complete
a survey to determine the areas in which additional support is needed, and the final
meeting specifically addresses these areas of need. Each NEST meeting lasts a total
of 4 hours so as not to overwhelm the teachers with too much information during
one session.
The first meeting of the NEST program is held before school begins. This
meeting is designed to help teachers become acclimated to the new school year and
allow them an opportunity to ask questions and seek guidance before opening their
doors to students. The CPSD spends time getting to know the teachers through team-
building or ice breaker activities, and then time is spent delving into critical areas
such as preparing for the first day of school, developing a classroom management
plan, preparing for substitute teachers while maintaining student confidentiality, and
ensuring professionalism. During this meeting, teachers who are uncertified receive
additional support that consists of completing a temporary authority to teach (TAT)
application and learning about teacher-preparation programs within the state of
Louisiana.
During the second meeting, District Supervisor Eric Chauvin provides the NEST
participants with information related to systems and technology. Chauvin reviews
the district’s acceptable use policy, Internet systems and safety, and JCampus, which
is the online platform used to enter lesson plans and grades for students. The last
system reviewed by Chauvin is called “Safe Schools,” which is online training
provided by Vector Solutions (2022) that targets vital areas such as ethics training,
bullying, student safety, and suicide prevention. During this meeting, Dr. Neal also
provides Google training so that teachers can effectively use the Google Workspace
(2022) for the purpose of checking email and posting activities in Google Classroom,
as well as collaborating using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Meet. Educators
Educators’ Choice 7