Connecting Teacher Evaluations and Professional Development/Coaching
As research shows time and time again, simply evaluating teachers is not enough. We must engage and provide meaningful professional development to our teachers in order to grow and retain them.
According to the Teachers Know Best research, teachers describe an ideal professional learning experience as:
Relevant and personalized
Interactive
Delivered by someone who understands their experience
Sustained over time
Treats teachers like professionals
Focused on applying learning through demonstrations or modeling and practice
Based on a report created by the Learning Policy Institute in which 35 methodologically rigorous studies were reviewed, effective professional development incorporates most, if not all, of the following:
Is content focused
Incorporates active learning
Supports collaboration
Uses models of effective practice
Provides coaching and expert support
Offers feedback and reflection
Is of sustained duration
The problem is most professional development isn’t any of the above bullets, let alone all.
At iAspire, we empathize with teachers who describe their ideal professional development yet experience otherwise. We also empathize with those offering professional development and understand how difficult it is to provide personalized and interactive coaching to all of your teachers.
iAspire created an Intelligent Assistant to offer individualized and relevant coaching experiences to your teachers. To offer this coaching, teachers create growth plans (which the Assistant helps them create, so no extra work for you!) and are able to start specific coaching that is delivered through micro-learning experiences.
Observers are also able to offer coaching based on classroom observations and walkthroughs as well.
iAspire instructional coaching:
is relevant and personalized based on teacher growth goals and/or feedback from the observer;
is interactive through the use of micro-learning experiences;
is created and curated by the iAspire team of former educators, administrators, and coaches;
is sustained over time through continuous top-of-mind coaching and reinforcements throughout the year;
has specific activities and opportunities to invite colleagues into the coaching;
will actually treat your teachers as the professionals they are.
is content-focused based on growth plans and/or observation feedback
provides teachers lesson plans to implement in their classrooms and other exemplars
allows teachers to reflect on their practice and make commitments for their next steps
If you’ve noticed there is a gap between the professional development offered and seeing this PD translate into improved classroom practice, let’s connect to talk through what you’re noticing. Schedule a Discovery call by using the button below: