Four fourth-grade teachers at James T. Jones Elementary School in Gladstone now share students across nearly the full school day, after a half-day pilot last year produced what staff called strong academic and emotional gains.
Gladstone Area Schools launched the expanded team-teaching model Monday, Aug. 24, the district's first day of the 2026-2027 school year, according to the Daily Press. Teacher Estacia "Tasi" Martinez leads a team with Rebekka Erickson, Teresa Sjogren and LaLacia Langenfeld. Together, they cover four of five subjects in the team format; only project-based learning stays with a single instructor.
"Last year, we piloted the teaming model for half of the school day and saw incredible results, both academically and emotionally, for our students," Martinez said. "The success of that pilot has us excited to expand teaming throughout the entire school day this year."
The rollout is gradual. Third-graders take only math in a two-teacher team setting. By fifth grade, all teachers already operate as a team, principal Holly Howes told the Daily Press.
State-funded initiative
The model is supported by state funds channeled through the Michigan Educator Workforce Initiative, a nonprofit that partnered with Arizona State University's Next Education Workforce program. MEWI provides direct grants to participating educators and physical plant updates to accommodate larger group settings, according to the National Association of State Boards of Education.
Michigan's first three districts, spanning four schools, tested the structure in 2024. Fifteen Michigan schools were experimenting with the model in 2025-2026, and 16 more are joining for 2026-2027, according to Chalkbeat. That figure doesn't match NASBE's count of "at least 10 more schools spanning seven districts" joining this year — the two organizations appear to be tracking the expansion differently.
Early results from the 2024 pilot schools showed significantly higher academic growth from fall to winter among second-graders and historically low ninth-grade failure rates, NASBE reported. A June 2025 Center on Reinventing Public Education analysis found teachers on teaching teams were less likely to leave their schools or districts than non-team teachers, though the researchers cautioned the finding was based on descriptive, non-causal data from a limited, non-random sample.
MEWI CEO Jack Elsey told The 74 in September 2025 that teachers in the program "feel better supported by their colleagues because they're in the same physical space with them" and can ask a teammate to deliver a lesson they find difficult.
Regional back-to-school timing
Gladstone was not the only U.P. district opening its doors this week. Mid Peninsula Schools started Tuesday, Aug. 25, and Escanaba Area Public Schools begins Thursday, Aug. 27.
Bellwether and the University of Michigan are conducting an independent evaluation of the Michigan team-teaching work. No timeline for publication has been announced.
