The Danville Independent School District has multiple cadres that consist of teachers, administrators and other community members and staff. These are groups that come together with a common goal to move district initiatives forward in various content areas. 

The district cadres that have been active throughout the school year are Math, Write from Beginning and Beyond (WfBB), Deeper Learning, Leaders Rising, Disciplinary Literacy for Science and Social Studies, SPARK Special Education Transition, and Community Schools Teacher Leaders (soon to be Family Engagement) cadres. The science cadre was very active in past years when new High Quality Instructional Resources (HQIRs) were introduced.

Additional groups that meet regularly are the EL (English Learner) teachers, Gifted and Talented teachers, Thinking Maps trainers and the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) group. 

New to the 2026-2027 school year will be the Reading, Career Connected Learning and Arts cadres. 

The DISD asked educators from five different cadres about their experiences and how things have gone during the 2025-2026 school year. 

Community Schools Teacher Leaders Cadre: Community Schools Director Dakota Yates

The Community Schools Teacher Leaders Cadre, which will be known as the Family Engagement Cadre next school year, began in August 2025 as a result of the Community Schools grant. 

“The Community Schools Teacher Leaders group was formed to begin the spread of community schools work into the other schools and align resources to ensure each school received support,” Yates said. 

He said after the Learning Walk at Hogsett in November, the group started creating an online resource site for families.

“The group has started creating the Caregiver Resource Modules website that includes information for families at each school,” Yates said. “Using the data collected from [Family and Youth Services Centers] coordinators needs assessments and survey data from staff at each school, the Community Schools Teacher Leaders identified trends in areas of need to begin building resources for families to utilize. These resources range from tips on how to incorporate literacy into the bedtime routine at [Mary G. Hogsett Primary School] to information on different [Career and Technical Education] pathways at [Danville High School]. This site will continuously evolve to match the needs of families and using feedback from both staff and families who use the site. We are hopeful that the resources are useful at all levels and become part of conversations between staff and families.”

He said he’s excited to see the impact of these resources as teachers use them to support families. 

“I am looking forward to the future of the Family Engagement Cadre to continue evolving the Caregiver Resource Site and adding in other areas such as Family Friendly Schools Certification and identifying ways to meaningfully engage families,” he said.

Next school year, the Family Engagement Cadre will expand to include students’ family members. 

 

Deeper Learning Cadre: Edna L. Toliver Intermediate School 2nd Grade Teacher Melissa Ely

The Deeper Learning Cadre supports improvement plans and goals, the Portrait of a Danville Learner and SchooLinks implementation, and other district and school initiatives. 

“I decided to get involved with the Deeper Learning cadre because I wanted to strengthen student engagement and create more meaningful, student-centered learning experiences,” Ely said. “I was interested in collaborating with other educators, learning new instructional strategies, and finding ways to help students build critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills that go beyond traditional classroom instruction.”

She said she’s “gained new strategies for increasing student engagement, promoting student voice and choice, and designing learning experiences that encourage critical thinking and real-world application.”

Ely said she thinks working with The New Teacher Project (TNTP) has helped support educators and provide professional learning opportunities.

“Another benefit was the opportunity to collaborate with other educators and share ideas around Deeper Learning strategies,” she said. “TNTP helped create a space for meaningful discussions about student-centered learning, equity, and ways to make instruction more relevant and engaging for students.”

She said she appreciates that the cadre focuses on helping students develop skills like critical thinking, problem-solving and more. 

“What I like most about the cadre is the collaborative and supportive environment it creates for educators,” Ely said. “It provides opportunities to share ideas, learn from one another, and reflect on instructional practices in a meaningful way. The work encourages innovation and pushes us to think about how we can better engage students and make learning more relevant and student-centered.”

 

Math Cadre: Danville High School Math Teacher Rob Kremer

Kremer said the Math Cadre provides a good opportunity for educators to have discussions about vertical alignment, which “is especially important in math, where every piece of content leads into content later on.”

Discussions and work this year have revolved around two questions, he said: “Where are we with math instruction in the district now?” and “Where do we want math instruction in the district to go in the future?”

“As a group, we felt like we really needed to understand where we were right now before we could push ahead with major changes,” Kremer said. “The biggest math decisions we've been discussing involve choices made at the school level. Bate and DHS are both adopting new High Quality Instructional Resources, while Hogsett and Toliver are looking at ways to improve their implementation of the resources they have.”

He said one of the biggest challenges the group is tackling is “the PR problem” that math has. 

“It's very common for people to believe that they're ‘just not math people,’ and that feeling perpetuates from teacher to student, from parent to child, from sibling to sibling, or in any number of other ways,” he said. “We really want to find ways to break that cycle within the district and help our students believe that they're all math people.”

 

Leaders Rising Cadre: Mary G. Hogsett Primary School Counselor Brittany Broach

Broach was eager to join the Leaders Rising Cadre because she wanted to gain a deeper understanding of day-to-day workings of district administration. 

“I also saw this as a valuable opportunity to further develop my leadership skills,” she said. “Helping others has always been important to me — starting in this district as a bookkeeper, I benefited from the guidance and encouragement of people who believed in my potential. Their support inspired me to pursue further growth, ultimately leading me to complete my education and become a school counselor. Being part of the Leaders Rising cadre allows me to continue that cycle, developing my own skills while positioning myself to support and mentor others in the future.”

Broach said that the experience with the cadre this year has been positive. The group has learned about various aspects of the district, like staffing, budget allocations and professional development. Several administrators have visited the group to share their expertise. 

“I really appreciate the layout and schedule of the cadre,” she said. “Rather than overwhelming us with everything at once, each month focuses on a different topic, which allows us to explore it in depth. I also enjoy the opportunity to work in small groups on various scenarios and discussions. Collaborating with other staff members provides diverse perspectives and insights, which enriches the learning experience and helps me see issues from multiple angles.”

Broach said that later in the program, members of the cadre will have the opportunity to do a mock interview for a position they’re interested in and shadow the person who holds the position for a day. 

 

Write from Beginning and Beyond Cadre: Toliver 3rd Grade Teacher Sarah Moss

Moss said she started to get training in WfBB last year for three different types of writing: narrative, response to text and expository. 

“I wanted to get involved [in the cadre] because I was excited to have a structured approach to writing to be able to teach my students that would carry over from year to year that they could be successful with,” she said. 

This year, there’s been a focus on narrative writing. 

“The students learned how to organize their thoughts/ideas using Thinking Maps and transfer that into a well structured narrative piece,” she said. “We’ve worked on creating strong leads, adding good supporting details and using strong adjectives in our writing.”

Next year, she said the cadre will move on to focusing on students being able to effectively respond to text. During her time with the cadre, Moss has enjoyed seeing how writing is being incorporated into other subject areas, not just reading and writing. 

“I’ve also really enjoyed hearing stories about how students at all grade levels feel more confident with writing because of WfBB,” she said. 

One challenge with the cadre this year has been creating writing prompts for younger grades, Moss said. The group hopes to compile a list of ideas teachers can use with their students to encourage more writing.