North Dakota will soon be experimenting with team-taught classroom models. The Peace Garden state recently became the first state in the nation to be approved by the U.S. Department of Labor for a new Lead Teacher Registered Apprenticeship.
North Dakota educators utilizing the apprenticeship will receive support through a partnership between the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction and Arizona State University’s Next Education Workforce initiative. Laurie Matzke, the chief of program development and growth for the Department of Public Instruction, has led many of North Dakota’s efforts to explore team-based school staffing models.
Changes will occur first in Fargo. Ten educators in the Fargo Public Schools District are participating in the pilot program in this upcoming year, completing ten courses available through Arizona State University’s Professional Educator Learning Hub. After completing the modules, each with about 15 hours of content, educators may apply to the Department of Public Instruction for a lead teacher certificate. More Lead Teacher Apprentices are expected for the 26-27 school year, when they will be able to train under Fargo’s the first wave of lead teachers.
Team-based school staffing models are exciting forms of innovation. While team-based models are yet to be implemented at scale, early implementation results from ASU’s Next Education Workforce Initiative have shown promising student reading ability growth and lower teacher turnover rates. Proponents of the team-teaching model emphasize how the model’s consistent administrative planning, communication, and flexibility allow educators to constantly tailor instruction to the needs of individual students. Team-based models can be exceptional tools for ensuring early literacy, as their design creates an environment where every student receives personalized instruction.
If Fargo’s initial implementation of team-based staffing models is successful, North Dakota might soon see wide-scale adoption of the practice. Innovation of some type is sorely needed for students. Last year, only 38 percent of students in the Fargo School District scored at or above proficiency on ELA state tests, and only 41 percent scored at or above proficiency for mathematics. Additionally, the team-based staffing model could improve the teacher experience and subsequently boost teacher attraction and retention. In February 2025, North Dakota’s Education Standards and Practices Board declared all content areas as critical shortage teaching positions for the upcoming school year. Hopefully, moving to a team-based staffing model can alleviate some of these issues.
As Minnesota struggles with its own teacher shortage and poor test scores, it might be worth glancing westward to see what can be gleaned from North Dakota’s innovation efforts.