“NIET - That’s What We’re Doing”: 2026 Fellows Ready to Spark Change Nationwide

By Day 3 of the 2026 NIET Fellows Boot Camp, the 11 selected teacher leaders couldn’t wait to leave. Normally, that is the last thing an organization wants to hear from program participants - but in this case, it means that the learning was so powerful, they were eager to return to their districts and lead. 

“The knowledge that I'm gaining here as a NIET Fellow is going to have a direct impact on my district. I'm excited and can’t wait to go back and take this to my school to work toward the results that we are expecting based on the practices we put in place,” said NIET Fellow Dominique O’Conner, who is the Dean of Instruction at South Baton Rouge Charter Academy of Charter Schools USA in Louisiana. “My hope is that people start to look at our school and say, ‘Hey, what are you doing over there?’ And we can say, ‘NIET - that's what we're doing.’ We're following the way it is written, and using it to grow our students and our teachers.”

My hope is that people start to look at our school and say, ‘Hey, what are you doing over there?’ And we can say, ‘NIET - that's what we're doing.’ We're following the way it is written, and using it to grow our students and our teachers.

NIET Fellow Dominique O’Conner, Dean of Instruction at South Baton Rouge Charter Academy of Charter Schools USA, Louisiana

The NIET Fellows Boot Camp, which took place in Phoenix, Arizona, is the fellows’ first taste of professional development and collaborative learning with their cohort, providing the foundation for a year of learning that is job-embedded and crafted with the intention to bring back to their school systems to build capacity and improve student outcomes throughout the program.

The 2026 NIET Fellows cohort is composed of educators from across the country who are selected for a one-year program to deepen their knowledge of instructional best practices and more effectively support the work taking place within and beyond their schools and districts. The National Institute for Excellence in Teaching is among the largest trainers of teacher leaders, with more than 35,000 teacher leaders trained to date. 

“With the selection of this cohort of fellows, we expand upon NIET’s strong foundation of building excellence in schools nationwide,” said NIET CEO Dr. Joshua Barnett. “These exceptional educators represent a generation of teacher leaders who will expand their impact through this fellowship by strengthening instruction and accelerating student achievement in their schools, districts, and states for years to come.”

After learning more about NIET’s greater context in the education field, and creating clear connections between fellows’ work and NIET’s mission to build educator excellence to give all students the opportunity for success, the fellows dove into a week full of sessions on advancing instructional practice, facilitating collaborative learning as a teacher leader, and developing action plans to apply their learning once they returned to their schools after Boot Camp.

A major focus for the fellows was their reflections on building capacity in their own roles and that of the educators they work with to elevate instructional practices and instill confidence and leadership qualities across their schools. 

“Every student is entitled to a good education,” said NIET Fellow Marco De La Rosa, who is an Instructional Coach at Resnick Middle School of Southwest Independent School District in Texas. “When you look at the data, the most effective agent of education in the student's life is the teacher. By empowering teachers to become teacher leaders and building their capacity, you spread the wealth of their abilities to other teachers, creating a more positive learning environment throughout the entire campus.” 

De La Rosas’ comment ties directly back to the core goals of the NIET Fellows Program - by providing the fellows with opportunities to deepen their knowledge of NIET’s systems of improvement, they will more effectively support the work taking place within and beyond their school and district.

Beyond the instructional work that took place in the Boot Camp, it also quickly became a hub for mentorship, support and a space to walk through challenges. The NIET Fellows Program is built on the foundation of collaboration and networking, a quality we see elevate learning for students, teachers, and teacher leaders. 

“This week - and it's hard for me not to be emotional - it's been so powerful to get to work with these educators. Having the support of somebody who gets it and is walking the walk with me, even though we're going to be miles apart, is an amazing feeling, and I'm very grateful for that,” said NIET Fellow Jacinda Mapes, who is an Instructional Coach at Hamilton Southeastern Elementary Schools of Hamilton Southeastern Schools, Indiana. “To know I have the support from my other fellows and NIET to grow me in the areas that I need to strengthen, while thinking about the impact I can have when I share what I’m learning this week with our district teacher leaders - I'm super excited about this collaborative effort.”

Now, with this month’s launch of a year’s worth of learning and professional development paved by NIET structures and support - along with newly established connections between them - the next step for our 2026 NIET Fellows is one they grow more excited for each day: returning to their districts to strengthen instructional systems that benefit their students.

Learn more about the 2026 NIET Fellows here.