Leading change in education is critical to increasing educational equity. With that goal in mind, the T.A.G. program was created. T.A.G. stands for Teachers Advocating to lead Great Change. It is an extension of the work of a collaboration between the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Delta Teacher Efficacy Campaign (DTEC) to raise awareness about the relationship between teacher efficacy and student achievement.
DTEC’s mission focuses on many topics, all through the lens of personal efficacy and confidence with the goal of equipping teachers to shift into teacher leadership and community advocacy and create a critical mass to lead change. T.A.G. is an extension of DTEC’s work that initially focused on educating educational stakeholders about ESSA, the Every Student Succeeds Act passed in 2015. The mission of ESSA is to ensure provisions for every school and so that every student in the country regardless of race, color, creed, religious preference, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, etc. receives an equitable education provided by a highly effective teacher.
T.A.G. 2.0 continues to focus on educational equity, however the implementation of ESSA is no longer the main focal point.
While North Carolina was not one of the original states selected to participate in T.A.G., the interest expressed by DTEC participants in North Carolina was so great that the program administration decided to add the state.
Tia Gilliam-Wilson, a teacher at Elon Elementary, is one of the DTEC Change Agents. She participated in the first T.A.G. effort in North Carolina in 2015-2016 and has continued to be involved since then. “Each team comes up with what they want to focus on, so in North Carolina we’ve been focused on equity, social justice and leadership, among other topics,” she said.
One of Gilliam-Wilson’s efforts was hosting a family literacy night at Elon Elementary pre-pandemic. She cited the valuable asset that Tyronna Hooker, executive director of Alamance Achieves, has been for T.A.G.’s local efforts, which directly connects to the Alamance Achieve’s efforts to help every child in Alamance County thrive. “I have reached out to Ty as a resource multiple times and she helped in so many ways, including as a panelist at events.”
COVID-19 has altered T.A.G.’s work, but Gilliam-Wilson explained how they had worked to adapt. “Since COVID we’ve been using the StreamYard platform to post presentations as well as on Facebook and YouTube.”
Any individual or group who would like to connect with Change Agents in their area to partner with the team can text #JoinTag to 51555 to be connected to the team closest to them.
