The introduction of teaching teams in Knoxville’s schools has proven to be a success, according to the district’s superintendent.

Cassi Pearson says presentations given by the teachers from West Elementary this week, and Northstar Elementary at the January 14th meeting, bear out how well giving teachers the opportunity to share information has been for their schools.

Pearson tells KNIA/KRLS News the West Elementary team’s approach has revitalized the atmosphere of the school, helping to motivate students to learn; and she says this is the result of more unity at all levels.

“When all of our teachers and our staff and our associates, cooks, custodians, everybody gets on board and wants to make a fun and exciting but a challenging culture, too — and we want to make sure that kids know that we think that they can do amazing things, and we encourage them to do bigger and better things every day and to keep learning — that really is contagious,” Pearson says.

The state initially introduced the building team concept two years ago, with funding available for school districts willing to implement the system; Pearson says each school has teams at different levels, and the system has empowered them to make the changes necessary to improve student performance.

For more about this team teaching concept, tune in to today’s edition of Let’s Talk Knoxville.