Sample Professional Development Opportunities

Getting Started with your Response to Intervention Model

This professional development will provide your Basic Skills Teachers, Interventionists, and/or I&RS teams with starting materials and supports to begin implementing effective strategies for the various learners in your district. You will be provided with support to create a handbook, resources, supports, and implementing data driven strategies. Ideally this professional development opportunity should be ongoing throughout the year with at least 6-8 hours of coaching sessions. However, we can customize based on your district's needs.

Effective TIER 1 Strategies for your General Education Staff

This professional development will provide your general education teachers with supports to provide both academic and/or behavioral strategies within the general education classroom. These sessions will allow teachers to leave feeling confident and prepared to support all of their learners and differentiate their instruction. Ideally, these opportunities should be separate into two separate 1-2 hour coaching sessions. One session can focus on academic interventions, while the other session would focus on behavioral interventions.

Effective Data Meetings with Your Staff

This professional development opportunity will provide your administrative team with strategies to use existing district and school wide data to support staff. During this session, your administrative team will be provided with ideas and strategies to create a data meeting schedule, disseminate appropriate data to the staff, and next steps to help staff focus on students in need of intervention or enrichment. Coaching sessions can be customized based on your district's specific needs and previous experience with data meetings.

Data Driven Instruction to Support Differentiate Instruction

This professional development opportunity will support all staff members with steps to use effective data to determine best instructional practices. Your staff will be guided through qualitative and quantitative data pieces and how to use the data to create small groups, intervention practices, and next steps for lesson pacing. Coaching sessions can be customized based on your district's specific needs and previous experience with data driven instructional practices. 

New Staff Orientation and Mentoring Programs

All districts in the State of NJ are required to have mentoring programs and new staff orientation trainings. This professional development can be provided to both your new staff members on effective teaching practices, classroom management, and or standards or competency based instructional practices. In addition, professional development can also be provided to your mentors on how to support new staff, tools and resources for how to provide coaching, and how to do peer observations for new staff. Coaching sessions can be customized based on your district's specific needs.

Introduction to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Education Practices

As districts continue to become more diverse and additional standards are being updated to include multicultural practices, this professional development will begin the conversations with staff on diverse practices. Conversations can include topics such as understanding culture, personal and cultural identity, microaggressions, implicit bias, why differences matter, and systems of power and privilege. This professional development program is ideally held throughout the school year in 1-2 hour sessions on each subtopic. 

Standards Based Instruction

Are you a district or a school who uses standards based grading? This professional development provides staff with understanding scales and targets to support this learning environment. Staff will be provided resources, examples, and time to view current grade level curriculum to establish effective practices and targeted based lessons. Coaching sessions can be customized based on your district's specific needs.

Creating and Supporting a Gifted and Talented Program

This professional development program focuses on helping districts and schools establish an effective Gifted and Talented program and getting the most out of your existing staff members. You will be provided with guidance on creating your Gifted and Talented handbook, establishing and creating a multiple measures matrix for data collection and student selection, creating a meaningful teacher survey that is based on top behaviors that support learning, understanding various assessments geared specifically towards assessing student giftedness, and creating a schedule and program to meet the needs of your gifted learners. This professional development can be done in about 2-3 hours, but is customizable based on your district's specific needs.