Professional Development

from the Curriculum Improvement Institute!

Put the latest research to work in your schools.

ABOUT

The sessions below are 3 hour sessions led by experts in their fields. Cost will include the choice of one session repeated morning and afternoon, or two different sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Attendees will receive any and all materials associated with each session.

DESIGN YOUR DAY!

Click any title below to see a course description and
objective, as well as who should attend.

Deconstructing Standards to establish common understanding

Most standards are written in terms that can be easily interpreted in a number of ways, which results in significantly different instruction and assessments. To develop a more cohesive understanding of what the standards are asking students to know and be able to do, the Institute has developed this session to demonstrate the process for taking the standards from broad statements to well-defined and understood skills, with the types of thinking required by the standards.

Who should Attend: Teachers and Building Administrators

Aligning Assessment Types to Standards

This introductory session specifically focuses on understanding how to match various types of assessments to the levels of learning required by the standards. During the three hours, participates will use their state standards, local standards, or the new Common Core State Standards to identify the types of assessments that match the level of thinking identified in the standards. Ideally, this session should follow the “Deconstructing Standards to establish common understanding” session.

Who should Attend: Teachers and Building Administrators

Developing Curriculum-based Assessments

Many schools are attempting to develop common or benchmark assessments. Typically, teachers develop questions based on the content of the textbook, questions found on the tests given to students, or items from a test bank. If assessments are to accurately reflect what has been taught, these assessments must be developed based on the taught (operational) curriculum. This session will walk participants through the process of analyzing the curriculum in order to identify the content taught and skills students used to precisely match the content and skills to the assessment questions.

Who should Attend: Teachers and Building Administrators

Integrating instructional strategies to improve student achievement

Know how to employ effective instructional strategies into everyday teaching can have a dramatic effect on student achievement. This session will focus on several of the strategies that have proven to have the greatest impact on student learning. Each strategy will be used during the session to provide participants with the opportunity to see the strategies used in “real life” situations. Additional strategies will be discussed as well as how and when they might be used to improve teaching and learning.

Who should Attend: Teachers

Moving to Data-driven Instruction

In many cases, student success is determined by a grade on a test. If teachers only look at their instruction every six weeks, there is no opportunity to change directions, supplement materials, make instructional adjustments, or apply different strategies. Monitoring specific aspects of instruction and then using that information as formative data provides an opportunity to use data to drive instruction and improve student learning. This session will demonstrate how teachers can use instructional data, make real-time decisions, and improve the learning process.

Who should Attend: Teachers and Building Administrators

Using the Curriculum as Formative Data

The curriculum is massive and, typically, only viewed as a static document. If schools are attempting to develop an articulated and rigorous curriculum, it is important to examine the curriculum as it is being implemented. This session will study various aspects of a curriculum and identify specific items that should be adjusted to eliminate gaps and redundancies, reduce instructional dissonance, and help coordinate interdisciplinary connections.

Who should Attend: Teachers and Building Administrators

Teacher feedback, making a positive impact on student learning

Teacher feedback is of limited value for improving student learning and can actually have negative effects on students’ desire to learning. However, feedback can be a very useful and positive tool when used effectively. This session will discuss and demonstrate the use of targeted, descriptive feedback that can result in positive student learning.

Who should Attend: Teachers

Using data to prioritize and set goals

This session will explore ways to use data to guide decision making about instruction, curriculum, and programming for educators who are beginning to learn how to use data in their school improvement planning process. The session will offer some foundational information on types of data, strategies for analyzing and understanding data, and methods for determining how these efforts can influence goals and planning. The result of this will be the development of an outline participants can take back to their schools to begin developing a focused, data-rich school improvement plan.

Who should Attend: Administrators

EACH ATTENDEE WILL RECEIVE

A CD with the latest research in education.
A workbook to refer to during and after the session
Automatic membership to the Curriculum Improvement Institute community on the EdWeb

COST

Onsite Professional Development through the Curriculum Improvement Institute costs $99 per person with a minimum order of $2500 per day. No more than 50 attendees per session. Location is your choice within your school or district. See the courses to design your custom day of Professional Development!

Click here to fill out a short form to request more information or to schedule a session. You may also call us at 630.282.1639.