Utah Virtual Academy Shares Teacher Leadership Model

Teacher-led school improvement lifted retention to the high 90s at Utah’s online public charter school

SALT LAKE CITY, UT, UNITED STATES, October 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — • Utah Virtual Academy (UTVA) raised teacher retention from the 60 percent range to the high 90s by building a school improvement system that teachers run.
• UTVA began the work in 2017 in Utah’s turnaround program, which serves schools ranked in the bottom 3 percent statewide for two years in a row. The school kept improving after it exited in 2020, and its high school’s 2026 cohort graduated at 88 percent.
• Teachers vote on priorities, write the plan, and co-lead monitoring meetings, while every UTVA school follows a short list of shared rules and each principal decides the rest.
• UTVA’s leaders shared the model at the Compass Fall Convening, and it works for any charter school, online or in person.

Utah Virtual Academy (UTVA) raised teacher retention from the 60 percent range to the high 90s by building a school improvement system that teachers run. The school started that work in a state turnaround program and kept it going after it exited. Executive Director Meghan Merideth, Elementary Principal Lacey Robinson, and Middle School Principal Lori Phillips shared the model with Utah charter school leaders at the Compass Fall Convening at the University of Utah.

Student results rose too. In third grade reading, UTVA students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students outperform state comparisons. Two early learning teachers brought 100 percent of their students to proficiency last year.

The work began in 2017, when the state placed UTVA’s high school in turnaround. Turnaround is a Utah program for schools ranked in the bottom 3 percent statewide for two years in a row. Schools in the program work with an outside provider on a three-year improvement plan. The high school exited in 2020.

“Turnaround has been the best thing that happened for Utah Virtual Academy and for me as a leader,” Merideth said.
Merideth said research shows many schools slide backward after they exit. UTVA built a system to keep improving, and teachers run it. They vote on priorities each spring, help write the plan, and co-lead the monitoring meetings.
The model fits any school, online or in person. Each UTVA school follows a few shared rules, including a school improvement team with teacher members, measurable goals, and a one-page plan every staff member can read. Each principal decides the rest.

Teachers also own the goals. In 2018, the principal owned a goal to raise the high school graduation rate from 38 to 65 percent. The high school’s 2026 cohort graduated at 88 percent. This year, mentors and a counselor own a goal to raise parent attendance at college and career meetings from 76 to 86 percent.
Robinson starts each year with a short exercise where team members name one meeting pet peeve and one working-style trait. Phillips gives each school priority its own teacher-led committee and stays out of those meetings so teachers can speak openly.

The work replaces meetings teachers already hold. Leaders earn a stipend, and Robinson said teachers now ask to join. “We have people begging to be on the school improvement team,” she said.
“I’m not going to own the system,” Phillips said. “We’re all going to own the system.”
UTVA serves students across Utah. More than half of its students are economically disadvantaged, and about a quarter receive special education services.

About Utah Virtual Academy
Utah Virtual Academy (UTVA) is a tuition-free, accredited online public charter school serving K-12 students across Utah. With flexible full-time and part-time enrollment options, live instruction from certified Utah teachers, and a curriculum aligned to state standards, UTVA provides personalized, high-quality education that meets students where they are. Learn more at utahvirtualacademy.org.
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A Cory Maloy
Maloy PR
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