After years of funding teachers' innovative ideas through classroom grants and boosting teacher excellence through professional development grants, MFEE is collaborating with Montclair Public Schools to launch Teacher Learning Communities (TLCs). TLCs bring together small groups of teachers over multiple sessions to learn, support each other, and create a local community of professional learning.

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MFEE’s launched the first Teacher Learning Community launched in December 2022. The TLC for Educators of Multi-lingual Learners brings together about a dozen teachers from across the district who are eager to develop new strategies. The cohort is guided by outside professional coaches, and they also provide peer learning and peer support to one another.  The first cohort is focused on teachers of multilingual learners, and it includes teachers across grade levels and from 4 different schools. MFEE provides stipends, meals, and the district is providing professional development credit to participating staff.

The next cohort will focus on addressing racial equity in our performing arts programming, which is an issue raised by our teen colleagues in our National Equity Project Building Equitable Learning Environments team.  Both of MFEE’s initial Teacher Learning communities have been shaped by input from our teens. We are grateful for their insight and leadership.

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