Last month it was announced that Brown County High School was one of five schools in the nation to receive a $10,000 grant for improving teaching and learning in the building.

Being a National Institute for Excellence in Teaching Founder’s Award finalist also put the school in the running for a $50,000 grand prize. The award ultimately went to Cross County High School out of Arkansas on March 10 at the NIET national conference in Dallas, Texas.

“Thanks to a sharp focus on daily collaboration, data analysis and feedback from teachers and students alike, Brown County High has made notable progress in advancing the effectiveness of teachers and student learning,” said NIET Chairman and Founder Lowell Milken.

“I commend Principal Trent Austin – and Superintendent Emily Tracy at large – for their commitment to meeting the needs of every educator and student.”

In 2019, Brown County Schools received the $5.5 million federal NIET grant aimed at supporting and investing in all of the district’s teachers. Multiple BCS teachers and administrators attended the national conference last week.

The money was a portion of a $47 million grant from the federal Teacher and School Leader Incentive program that was split between BCS, Perry Township School and Goshen Community Schools.

NIET was awarded the five-year grant to “expand and sustain work to support teachers and improve students’ academic success” in partner school districts, according to a press release at the time from NIET.

The dollars were to be used to to implement the TAP System for Teacher and Student Advancement for all certified staff. With that money, the district has designated a few teachers in each building as “master” and “mentor” teachers to help other teachers learn different methods of reaching students. That money also funds teacher training, evaluations, and a performance-based compensation plan.

According to a press release from NIET last week, Brown County High School has “continued to advance during the pandemic through the use of NIET’s tools and resources to support instructional excellence and learning acceleration, provide coaching from expert leaders and trainers, and engage a large network of educators united around shared learning.”

The Founder’s Award was created to honor one school each year for “exceptional implementation of NIET’s principles to build educator excellence and advance student success.”

“In its first few years of partnership with NIET, Brown County High School has made significant strides in leveraging their teacher leaders to build their instructional culture,” said NIET Co-President and Chief Operating Officer Josh Barnett.

“What they’ve accomplished in a short amount of time is truly impressive, and I look forward to seeing how they continue to grow and support educator effectiveness in the future.”

The Founder’s Award winners are selected by NIET based on efforts to “make instructional excellence the cornerstone of school improvement; plan for regular professional learning focused on real-time needs of teachers and students; create a culture of collaboration and reflection; and leverage teacher leaders and administrators to drive student growth.”

The high school has employed these principles to implement the TAP system since 2019.

Fast forward three years and the high school is reporting success using the TAP system to improve the effectiveness of teachers and achievement of students.

Austin and his team at the high school are revamping the school culture using NIET structures “to build capacity and foster growth for teachers through dedicated collaboration time, increased instructional support and professional learning opportunities,” the press release states.

“Quite honestly, this is the best program I’ve ever been a part of in my 24 years of being an educator,” Austin said.

“NIET is exactly what we’ve been looking for, for so many years. Our teachers now have support in a way that allows them to meet together once a week to collaborate with other career teachers, get coaching, advice and perspectives on lessons from mentor and master teachers.”

From 2018 to 2021, the high school increased English-language arts scores from 49% to 71% passing rate. The school also recently earned a state letter grade of B, which evaluates the school’s performance, improvement, graduation rate and college and career readiness.

In recent years, the high school has centered their focus on providing students with a variety of future career pathways, including developing Eagle Manufacturing that allows students to run their own business while gaining career skills.

Class offerings for next school year at the high school will branch out to include courses and pathways in construction trades, early childhood education, civic arts, tourism and business. The Brown County School Board of Trustees approved those courses on March 3.

A NIET rubric also provides a common language for teachers that allows for teachers to have “consistency and guidance” during weekly professional learning community meetings.

“Career teachers have been given the training to speak a common language of what excellence in teaching is and what it looks like,” Austin said.

“Teachers and administrators speak the same language and have common goals that we have built together.”

The school is also student-focused with the school’s instructional leadership team gathering feedback and ideas from students after trying new teaching strategies, the NIET release states.

Using student work and data as a “key indicator” for teaching effectiveness is another shift of focus in the building. Previously effectiveness was determined by watching teachers in the classroom.

“We are looking at the outcome of student learning and seeing how they’re growing and progressing, and that’s how we know when we’ve been successful,” said Austin.

The high school was one of two schools in Indiana to be named a finalist for the NIET Founder’s Award. Southport Sixth-Grade Academy was also a finalist.

Logansport High School in Louisiana and Somerset Elementary in Texas were also finalists.