Customized to Your Needs

Select your combination of modules for 1-5 day workshops or we will review your school data and needs and provide recommendations to you. We also provide technical assistance consultation to administrators and school leaders. Note all of the workshops are available throughout the school year. Some are available as 1-3 hour sessions.

PBIS is a proven approach to schoolwide discipline. Reduce your office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. Involve your teachers in handling many problems in their classrooms before behaviors escalate; and establish expectations and consequences for cafeterias, behavior in halls, and common spaces. We will help you set up data recording systems and PBIS teams. Learn about Tier I, II, and III students and approaches for each; design effective student incentives; improve school climate. Special considerations for the unique needs of elementary, middle, and high schools.

Teachers set the tone for the year within the first few days. This workshop includes practical recommendations for organizing classrooms for learning and building community with children.

We will review your data for the past 3 years and provide our recommendations for intensive targeted professional development for teachers. We will provide background theory and research on underperforming subgroups, review the most effective strategies for urban minorities, and give teachers experience designing academic interventions to improve academic achievement.

A training and orientation session for teachers interested in becoming mentor coaches, as well as those who have been selected by their schools and are already serving in this role. Our trainers assist participants in designing plans for coaching and mentoring teachers at your school. Session includes useful observation and feedback forms.

General and special education teachers teaming for improved instruction and outcomes for ALL students. We have developed standardized modules on the 7 types of co-teaching, self assessments, co-teaching goal setting, and continuous improvement strategies to raise student achievement. Available as a 2-day initial workshop, with opportunities for ongoing observation, feedback, and training on a contractual basis with schools. We recommend at least 3 sessions.

We will review your curriculum mapping process or assist you in developing and revising your alignment based on state assessment scores. Three options are available: (1) we lead a team of teachers in reviewing and developing or revising curriculum or curriculum maps; (2) we review your existing documents and make recommendations; or (3) we start with #1 or 2 and then continue monitoring and assisting teachers in curriculum pacing.

Research shows that schools are most in need of training about how to use data for making decisions about instruction. Data-driven instruction is one of the foremost strategies for improving student achievement. Teachers respond to the priorities of administrator. We will help administrators and teacher leaders set up procedures and expectations and/or teach teachers about how to discuss data in team meetings. Also includes targets and templates for daily or weekly monitoring of student performance.

Students today spend time surfing the web and bouncing from topic to topic and idea to idea. They are constantly multi-tasking: listening to MP3s and IPODs, watching videos, texting, and holding conversations. What are the implications for shifts in reading comprehension and thinking? What are practical strategies to insure that students are using higher level critical thinking skills? How can students be taught to self-monitor and increase the quality of the learning that occurs? These questions will be considered and teachers will be provided the opportunity and guidance for structuring Deep Learning experiences – including the use of appropriate rubrics and other evaluative tools.

Faculty will present on their experiences teaching abroad in developing countries, and participants will reflect on their experiences and understanding of education overseas. Teachers will (1) discuss implications for their instruction, (2) review research on why students in particular countries out-perform others on specific standardized tests, and (3) have the opportunity to design a set of learning activities for students based around global themes and the economy, environment, consumerism, social attitudes and mores, politics, and culture.

Also includes information on the International Baccalaureate and Cambridge International Accreditation Programs.

This workshop covers strategies from the Institute on Educational Sciences and the What Works Clearinghouse. Strategies are reviewed, templates provided, and teachers are given opportunities to modify their plans to incorporate these strategies.

Standards for mastery for fluency and mastery for reading, math, and writing at various grade levels. Includes information from the foremost Precision Teaching web sites. Covers strategies for improving fluency, data collection and data analysis.

Contract with our faculty to combine workshops with in-school observation and coaching. We recommend that schools begin with weekly monitoring and coaching and then fading back so that by mid-year coaching is provided on a bi-weekly basis. For the greatest impact, combine this program with quarterly workshops.

Learn about research-based strategies for infusing arts across the curriculum. Instructors will share information from research projects with national arts integration communities of practice, and universal design incorporating art with museum research for all students, including students with disabilities. Review and critique arts integration rubrics. Participants will experience a hands-on lesson for designing their own arts infused units.

This may be offered as a combined module or the module could be divided into two sessions.

(a) Professionalism. What does it mean to be a teacher? What are the standards for the profession? What are the expectations for your attendance, reporting in teaming, lesson planning, grading, substitute folders, and professional portfolios? How much should you share with your colleagues? What information might be considered confidential? How should you prepare for an observation by your administrator? How can you establish good relationships with your students, peers, and administrators? Practical considerations for first year teachers.

(b) Cultural Literacy. What is the difference between cultural sensitivity and cultural literacy? What steps can be taken to enhance your cultural sensitivity and literacy? How do ethnicity, race, and socio-economic status impact instruction and learning in schools and interacting with parents and students whose lives and life experience may be very different from your own? Increasing your cultural sensitivity and cultural literacy is an ongoing process. Practical tips for teachers stepping into inner-city schools

Based on the best research available, we design programs to meet your school’s specific needs, based on the curriculum you are using, protocols that are effective in your school, and your desire for improvement. Response to Intervention is the new SST (or student case management) process. By designing your school’s 3 Tiers of Intervention we can tailor how you provide effective prevention services. We find that it is useful to provide technical assistance to administrators and to follow-up with additional workshops. This session can be modified according to grade levels (elementary, middle, or secondary) or if you already have a RTI system, we can review that system and recommend strategies for improvement.

Establishing simple, easy to understand rules and procedures is critical to a successful school year. Faculty will discuss how to build classroom communities, establishing rules with students, shortcuts to effective plans, and schoolwide behavior management plans.

Critical thinking skills can be advanced through problem based instruction. Learn how to choose problems for exploration, provide a stimulus for student learning, set up learning teams, and design rubrics for evaluating team results. Participants work in cross-disciplinary teams to simulate student problem solving using an inquiry based approach.

We work with your school team on school improvement planning. This includes reviewing and analyzing data and designing a plan for school improvement. If you already have a plan, we review the plan and make recommendations for next steps.

Faculty model an array of strategies to add mystery and drama to your classroom. Up your teaching game and be a stronger competitor with simple, easy to implement techniques. Today, students are bombarded with technology and highly interactive multimedia experiences. Change your classroom, timing, and approach to get and maintain student attention.

We review your lesson plan format and guide your consideration about whether to continue with that format or adopt another format. We present the big MAC approach to lesson planning (Big Ideas, Materials, Accommodations, and Closure — elements of which can be used with any approach). Participants are led through a series of activities where they consider the standard of learning, essential questions, and alternative instructional procedures. Participants develop and share plans, including use of a “hook” or introduction, as well as instruction and guided practice.

When students are working toward goals that they have selected and agreed to, their performance tends to improve. Learn how to teach students about their disability, their rights, and the IEP process. Strategies are given for various grade levels.

This session focuses on middle and high school students. Participants learn about student self-governance and self-determination and given opportunities for incorporating this approach into their lesson plans.

Learn about teacher performance pay – options, and the impact of teacher incentives.

Explanations about expectations of the Ohio Department of Education. This session could be an introductory workshop, or could include our assistance in designing and implementing your school’s Focused Plan, as well as assistance with the Implementation, Measurement and Monitoring (IMM) process.

With limited time to cover content and teach to mastery, teachers need to consider strategies for emphasizing priority materials. So you have a curriculum pacing guide. How do you stay on track? During this session teachers practice effective and ineffective ways to pace instruction.

Includes a review of the highlights of adolescent psychology as well as research on urban males and females, including learning styles. Consideration of the needs and interests of various ethnic groups, differences among ethnic groups, and how teachers can adapt instruction to engage adolescents.

Are you using or considering virtual learning or online learning modules? A review of five of the most popular modules, as well as considerations of the pros and cons of each. Includes strategies for adapting modules for credit recovery, at-risk youth, and youth with learning disabilities.

There is a tendency today, especially with older students to not reteach. Yet sometimes the most effective approach to increase student learning is to stay with a topic until a student masters the skill or knowledge. Includes guidelines for reteaching, including making decisions about reteaching, as well as how to present the information the second or third time around.

21st Century Skills do not replace content knowledge. Rather, they are complementary building blocks to help students gain knowledge in ways that are more engaging. The convergence of data, voice, graphics, and live video on low-end computers and smartphones is providing real-time information access and exchange in schools. While this course is an overview, in-depth workshops on specific skills or technologies can be provided

Critical 21st Century thinking skills are important because we are constantly confronted with situations that demand judgment. For example, students get 4 million hits when using a search engine and must identify the five of greatest value. Learners encounter online sources that are contradictory, incomplete, inaccurate, or biased. 21st century problem solving also requires input from across disciplines and across the curriculum. This workshop will address how you can build deeper understanding, better questioning skills, and more active student involvement in the content and concepts you teach.

21st century communication skills are vastly different than the linear, standalone, means of communication of the past. Students growing up in the 21st century live in a technology-infused world marked by a 24/7 flow of global information. Yet students must be able to actively listen and effectively express themselves across media, even when their communication preference is online texts, tweets, or Facebook entries. This workshop will show you ways to use new technologies, YouTube, DIIGO, Wikis, etc., to appeal to the hyper-connected MySpace generation. Designed to help you teach students so that they can express complex ideas through mixed-media projects.

Throughout the K-12 years, students are developing their metacognitive skills and teachers can play a critical role in enhancing and speeding up executive skills acquisition. Learn how you can coach students to increase their attention span, pursue goal-directed activities, and plan and manage their time more effectively. Discover ways to help students create organizational structures, develop emotional control, and increase their flexibility so they can become increasingly independent, goal-oriented, and self-directed learners.

Professional development and continuous learning requires that teachers recognize what is working well, what they need to changed, and how to improve. Enhance your metacognitive skills including reflection, planning, positive self-talk, and self-regulation to strengthen your teaching practices and classroom interactions.

We provide school improvement officers to guide and monitor your school improvement process. Services available for Tier I, II, and III schools. CEI staff review your short cycle and annual yearly data and make recommendations for schools, classes, and individual student learning plans. Ohio Improvement Planning trained and certified facilitators. In Washington DC experienced staff have been trained in the DC review process and have served on review panels for individual schools.