A University of Northern Colorado-based institute offering Colorado educators a specific type of professional development reaches a milestone this year, and the celebration will be rooted in continuing to help Colorado educators be more effective for their students.
The Tointon Institute for Educational Change was founded 30 years ago at UNC, and its mission has evolved to focus on educational leadership during annual summer academy sessions in Vail.
“While it’s about professional development and learning, it’s interactive and you’re talking and collaborating,” said Ashley Aragaon, a Greeley-Evans School District principal who has attended three Tointon leadership academies since 2019.
Started in 1995, the institute opened through significant financial donations from Greeley residents Bob Tointon and his late wife, Betty.
The Tointons were active participants in the Greeley community dating to the late 1950s when they relocated from Kansas. Betty Tointon died in 2020 at age 87. The Tointons were also advocates of public education, and they gave $3.5 million to get the institute up and running.
Bob Tointon, who will be 92 next month, served as the chairman of the UNC Board of Trustees in the 1990s. He was an engineer in his professional career, an executive at Hensel Phelps Construction Company and later an owner of Phelps-Tointon, Inc.
Greeley-Evans School District 6 named one of its new schools in the past few years for the Tointons. The Tointon Academy of Pre-Engineering opened in 2022.
Janet Alcorn, a former elementary teacher and principal in California and Colorado, joined the institute as director in 2001. She is retiring later this year. A successor has been identified but not finalized, Alcorn said.
A group of principals from Colorado schools work together during a June 2024 professional development academy at a Tointon Institute for Educational Change session near Vail. Founded 30 years ago by Greeley resident Bob Tointon and his late wife, Betty, the institute is based at the University of Northern Colorado. The institute’s mission is to work with teachers and principals on improving how they educate students. (Janet Alcorn/Tointon Institute for Educational Change).“Ours is about learning and thinking and how to make changes in the schools,” Alcorn said, adding Bob Tointon was interested in how schools and educators can improve for students. “You have to look for better ways to do it. The idea is no one can sit on their laurels.”
The structure of the Tointon Institute is professional development in two types of leadership academies: for principals and for schools and teachers.
The principal academy boils down to evaluation of those administrators, and looking at their strengths and weaknesses in the role. Prior to attending the academy, the principals submit to Alcorn surveys on their work from building colleagues. The information is prepared as a report for the principals and it’s reviewed at the academy.
Aragon, the principal at Bella Romero Academy in Greeley, said the principals also rely on one another for information and consultation during the academy. For example, one of Aragon’s successes here in Greeley might be a new problem or issue to one of the other principals.
“It’s a therapy session,” Aragon said of some of the work at the academy. “They truly understand one another because it’s a unique position.”
There are two groups of study in the school and teacher academy: instruction and school culture.
Aragon will return to the institute academies for a fourth time this year. She attended the principal academy in 2019. She took a team of 10 Bella Romero teachers to the culture academy in 2023, and another team to the instructional academy last year. Another Bella Romero group will attend the instructional academy this summer.
The teachers at the academies are known as facilitators. They are a mix of education professionals such as principals or superintendents, and all are chosen by Alcorn.
Superintendents submit nominations to Alcorn for the principal academy. The graduates of the principal academy may then only apply for acceptance into the school and teacher academy. The facilitators, like the academy participants, also must be Colorado educators.
“It’s a requirement,” Alcorn said. “They have to have done the work in Colorado. They have to know the content standards, the (education) environment in Colorado.”
As of 2024, 1,380 principals and 435 school teams with more than 3,400 teachers have attended the institute, Alcorn said. The institute operates the academies off the interest from the Tointon investment. Schools also pay to attend.
Forty principals and 200 teachers will attend this year’s academies.
A group of teachers from Colorado schools work together during a June 2024 professional development academy at a Tointon Institute for Educational Change summer session near Vail. Founded 30 years ago by Greeley resident Bob Tointon and his late wife, Betty, the institute is based at the University of Northern Colorado and its mission is to work with teachers and principals on improving how they educate students. (Janet Alcorn/Tointon Institute for Educational Change).Alcorn said the relationships developed through the institute academies are a key reason for the academies’ success and longevity. The principals continue to work with Alcorn for weeks after the academy. The connections and relationships may then be open for an indefinite period.
“The generosity of the Tointons has made a huge impact,” Alcorn said. “It has become clear to me that this is good work we do and it changes the lives for people, for teachers and in schools for kids.”
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