New Schools for Baton Rouge (NSBR) launched the Leadership Team Collaborative (LTC), which consists of instructional leaders at the school and district level who are directly responsible for coaching and managing teachers and other instructional staff. We talk to Dhiyaa-ud-Deen Abdullah, grade level chair at Baton Rouge Bridge Academy and a member of the inaugural LTC cohort to learn about his motivations for being an educator, his LTC experience, and what collective impact can mean for our city.Tell us about the professional path that led you to your current role. I applied to TNTP teachNOLA in the spring of 2015 and was accepted into the program. I spent my first year in the classroom at Langston Hughes Academy prior to relocating to Baton Rouge the following year.

How has your experience with the LTC impacted you, your school, and your students? I believe LTC will produce school leaders that will transform our current education system by ensuring every scholar in Baton Rouge have access to a successful schools, one day. LTC has provided me with the ability to analyze the way in which I serve my students from a different perspective. I think it’s easy to get tied down due to the endless tasks that educators have to do but when we have the opportunity to step back and look at the bigger picture, it’s only then, that we are able to try analyze what works and what needs changing. LTC also provides a framework to network and collaborate with other educational leaders to create solutions to the problems we face as an educational community.

What is one thing that your students and/or families have taught you? My scholars have taught me to never allow any external situation to determine whether they will meet their goals. Although many of my scholars have external factors that could deter them from trying their best, each of them come to school daily wanting to learn and succeed at meeting their academic goals.What are your hopes for the Baton Rouge Community: students, families, schools? The most urgent need for our education community is to transform our existing schools into excellent schools. My hope for the Baton Rouge community is to provide all students with the schools they deserve. We, as an entire Baton Rouge community, must be willing to be honest and open about the issues that surround our educational system. Too many of our scholars are being denied access to an adequate education based solely on zip codes. Regardless of where a child lives, they should have access to a successful school.Dhiyaa-ud-Deen Abdullah is the first grade instructional lead at Baton Rouge Bridge Academy. A native of Raceland, Louisiana and a graduate of Southern University A&M College, Dhiyaa plans to develop his primary grades content knowledge and become an instructional coach to support other teachers to provide rigorous instruction to all scholars. Learn more about Dhiyaa and his fellow 2017 LTC Cohort members.