Shawn Hayes

Shawn Hayes has served as the Director of Teacher Development for Jefferson Parish Schools since joining the district in March 2018. He oversees multiple teacher leader pathways, new teacher support, state teacher leader initiatives, content-and curriculum-based professional learning, and works heavily with executive leadership to shape and execute the vision of teaching and Learning in Jefferson Parish Schools.

Prior to his work in Jefferson Parish, Shawn served as an award-winning special education teacher in the Memphis City Schools (now Shelby County Schools) and Calcasieu Parish Schools,where he garnered acclaim for his innovativeapproach to specialeducation services and moving the needle for kids. Shawn also has served in various teacher leader and instructional coaching roles at the local, state, and national levels.

Shawn has remained active at the local, state, national and international levels through multiple fellowship, board, and contract opportunities with Teach Plus, America Achieves, UnBoundEd, Teach Strong, Teacher Champions, Stand for Children, Embark New Memphis, Tennessee Department of Education, and the Louisiana Department of Education. Shawn bleeds red and black, having earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati, he earned his master’s degree from the University of Memphis and is an actively enrolled doctoral student at the University of New Orleans.

You can follow Shawn on Twitter at @ShawnMHayes. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn.

Jefferson Parish’s Implementation Journey

In 2018, Jefferson Parish adopted CKLA for K-2 and LearnZillion Guidebooks for 3- English II. The same year they adopted Eureka Math K-8; they currently use Eureka Math for high school Geometry and Algebra I/II as well.

Jefferson Parish has partnered with Schoolkit since 2019 for assistance in designing and facilitating a professional learning plan. Initially, Schoolkit coaches trained a cohort of 84 content leader fellows who redelivered professional learning to all teachers. The district grouped teachers into grade-level and subject-specific cohorts of 20-25 from across the district—including ELL teachers and special education teachers—who collaborated to unpack content standards and learn the curricula as well as the research behind it. Going into 2021-22, more than 2900 teachers have received the initial training with further professional learning to come that builds on the current foundation.