Cadre Descriptions 2025

In order for a cadre to "make" there must be five participants.

Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Services

Professional Learning with Local Experts

This year we are partnering with our experts at NKCES to bring a variety of ongoing, sustained, personalized and reflective opportunities for professional learning.

Participants in this format will choose one of the options below and participate as a community of learners throughout the course of the year. Each cadre will open up with a training in the afternoon on the August 8 District PD Day, and will meet periodically through the rest of the year.

If you would like to propose your own cadre to lead, scroll down to the bottom for the proposal form.

Educator Wellness

NKCES Lead: Lyndsey Mayberry

Strategic Plan: Positive and Engaged Culture

PGP Alignment: Instruction

Information, activities, and resources to understand, recognize, and minimize the experience of compassion fatigue and burnout and to increase compassion resilience and overall wellness.

Dates

August 8 - 3 hours

TBD

HQIR - Open ScieEd Elementary

NKCES Lead: Hallie Booth

Strategic Plan: Student Experiences and Opportunities

PGP Alignment: Planning and Preparation

Focus on the 4 key instructional strategies that enhance the science classroom. These key strategies will be based on the OpenSciEd instructional model and can be used with OpenSciEd and without

Dates

July 11 - 6 hours

3 hours TBD

HQIR - Open SciEd Middle/High School

NKCES Lead: Hallie Booth

Strategic Plan: Student Experiences and Opportunities

PGP Alignment: Planning and Preparation

Focus on the 4 key instructional strategies that enhance the science classroom. These key strategies will be based on the OpenSciEd instructional model and can be used with OpenSciEd and without

Dates

August 11 - 6 hours

3 hours TBD

District Led Cadres

*AI District Guidance and Tools

District Lead: Heidi Neltner

Strategic Plan: Achievement

PGP Alignment: Planning and Prepration

Participants will attend the Beechwood AI Summit on June 9 and bring their learning back to the District. We will then have 5 hours of cadre meetings to explore District guidance, classroom policy, and use of AI tools like Diffit and Pear Assessment.

Dates & tentative agenda

*4 hours June 9 Beechwood Summit

5 hours cadre meetings

+3 hours morning of Aug 8

Aug 28 (1 hr) - Effective prompting, Policy writing, using chatbots with students
Sept 25, (1 hr) - Reflect on policy implementation and ethics discussion, use of Diffit
Oct 23, 2025 (1 hr)- Pear Assessment AI
Dec 4, 2025 (1 hour) - Reflect on tools
1 hour choice meeting for individual planning needs/implementation

Art + SEL

LeadL Leah Fryman, Nikki Everett, Rachael King, Stephanie Beiting

Strategic Plan: Positive and Engaged Culture

PGP Alignment: Instruction

Together, the District art teachers will form an artist collective group that will focus on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and art making. The purpose of this cadre will be to offer new learning to educators by connecting SEL and Art. Each session will focus on a specific strategy and a simple art making activity, that all content teachers can implement into their classroom, to boost student performance and mental health.

Dates:

August 8 - 3 hours

Dates: 10/8, 11/5, 2/4, 3/4

Time: 4-5:30pm

Comprehensible Input Resource Creation and Collaboration K-12

District Leads: Julie Dashley, Silvia McClamrock

PGP Alignment: Planning and Preparation

Strategic Plan: Individual Student Growth, Achievement

As Bryce Hedstrom states in “The Big CI Book”, we will base our professional development on, “Strategies that simplify and make comprehensible input instruction work for you”. After this cadre study, we will be able to practice these successful CI strategies including stories, in our classrooms, with confidence. Our goal is to read and process his advice together and immediately implement it and then reflect on our experiences together for our next meeting. This is the beauty of the cadre continuing throughout the year instead of in a large chunk at the beginning and the end.

Dates & tentative hours

Aug 8 - 3 hours

September 2025 (1 hour)

October 2025 (1 hour)

November 2025 (1 hour)

January 2026 (1 hour)

February 2026 (1 hour)

March 2026 (1 hour)

Formative and Summative Assessment Practices in the Digital Environment

District Leads: Heidi Neltner

Strategic Plan: Individual Student Growth

PGP Alignment: Planning & Preparation, Instruction

In grades 3-12 enhance instructional practice and assessment with digital tools like Schoology Mastery, Diffit, Pear Assessment, Nearpod etc. The focus will begin with backward planning and creating a comprehensive assessment map.

We will consider summative assessment building using Schoology and Pear Assessment, as well as performance assessments that leverage real-world, student-led projects like those in the Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) through the Creative Digital Arts projects (CDA). These authentic assessments are evaluated using a single-point rubric, promoting clear expectations and meaningful feedback.

Dates:

August 8 - 3 hours

Sept 11 - 1.5 hours

October 9 - 1.5 hours

November 13 - 1.5 hours

December 11 - 1.5 hours

Building Year 2 of LEGACY

Leads: Nina Kearns, Katie Stewart, Kevin Listerman

Strategic Plan: Individual Student Growth

PGP Alignment: Classroom Environment

High School teachers will work across discplines to take a look at curriculum for our first year of legacy and determine what went well that we would like to continue and change things that we think did not go as well to inform what we change and build for subsequent years. We will also reflect on trends that we are seeing within the student body that are both positive and negative in order to inform our curriculum.

Dates:

July 23

August 8 - 3 hours

August 6

September 10

Octtober 22

January 7

March 4

*Dates subject to change

High Quality Math Instruction for 6-12th Grades

District Leads: Katie Carelock, Abby McCoy

Strategic Plan: Achievement

PGP Alignment: Planning and Preparation, Instruction

This cadre will serve as a foundational step toward building systems that support high-quality instruction, targeted tiered interventions, and long-term progress toward student mastery of standards. The cadre will provide a structured opportunity for teachers to collaborate across grade levels to ensure clarity, coherence, and equity in assessment practices, interventions, and curriculum.

This cadre directly supports our district’s strategic goals of individual student growth and high levels of student achievement by building a system where every student’s learning is clearly defined, consistently monitored, and intentionally supported.

Dates:

August 8 - 3 hours

August 11th - 3 hours - AM

Oct. 14th - after school

March 10 - after school

May 12 - after school

*Dates subject to change

Ignite & Integrate: New Teacher Cadre

District Lead: Heidi Neltner

Strategic Plan: Achievement

PGP Alignment: Planning and Preparation, Instruction

This cadre is designed to support your initial journey in the Fort Thomas Independent School District. Whether you're a first-year teacher or an experienced educator new to our community, this cadre is designed to help you ignite your passion for teaching in District, while integrating the digital tools, instructional practices, and curriculum resources that will empower your students to thrive.

The August session is your launch point—a space for connection, creativity, and confidence building. In the initial session you'll:

Explore the core instructional platforms used in your grade band
Create a ready-to-use digital activity or lesson
Begin designing a learning environment that blends tech, engagement, and best practices

3rd - 12th Specific Grade Dates:

August 11 - 9am-12pm

August 21 - 3:30-4:30 - Getting the Most from Core Curriculum Tools

K-2nd Specific Grade Dates

August 11 - 12pm-3pm

September 4- 3:30-4:30 Getting the Most from Core Curriculum Tools

Topic - choose one date for each topic

The New Art and Science of Teaching:

Context: September 18 or September 25
Feedback: October 16 or November 6
Content: November 20 or December 4

2 hours of individually scheduled time with Heidi

Science of Reading

Secondary Science of Reading

The deadline for registration has past

3 hours in morning on 8th
9 hours of District PD and 6 additional Flex as approved by principal
Level 6th-12th Grades (see email)
Course launches April 3 - completion by June 27
Self-paced modules
15-20 hours

LETRS

Each cohort group (K-5, SPED, Reading specialists) will engage in professional learning over two years and cover eight professional learning units on topics essential for literacy instruction, including phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, writing and assessment. Each unit will include asynchronous, self-paced study and six hours of facilitator-led learning. Participants must commit to completing the full two-year course and will devote approximately an hour each week plus six hours for each unit for live training to complete the program.

Teachers will receive 4 sub days to work with their learning group for each facilitator-led training + 9 hours of District Level PD

Teachers who participated in Phase 2, will continue in their same cadres.

Registration for Phase 4 will open May 1 - click here for information

Teachers participating in LETRS not seeking a rank change, can use the training as professional development.

For the State Sponsored option teachers will need to report to District PD on August 9 from 8 am-11 am, and can earn up to 9 hours of District PD for the State Sponsored option, but can request additional flex PD time from their building administrators.

If you are seeking a Rank change through the LETRS option, you will need to sign up for LETRS through the Kentucky Reading Academies, and sign up for the Rank change option through NKCES, in addition to selecting a separate professional learning option through the District.