CHARACTERISTICS

• Instructor led by educators who have “walked the talk” with expertise and experience with the content they teach. They provide explicit feedback and guide the teacher’s learning experience from the moment of registration.
• An ONLINE Learning Community is provided (and an ONSITE Learning Community through the Implementation Training and Coaching) for teachers to collaborate to refine their practice.
• Provides courses that are triangulated, i.e., the standards/objectives for both declarative and procedural knowledge are stated, instructional tutorials in the course explicitly address the standards/objectives, and assessment tasks measure the performance of the declarative and procedural knowledge. The courses model sound instructional design.
• Embedded into every course are the modifications to close the gap in achievement for diverse learners based on the research of Dr. Belinda Williams: Urban Learner Framework.
• Meets all of the National Staff Development Council (NSDC) Standards for high quality learning for educators.
• Lessons include learning of the vocabulary and concepts related to the strategy, the impact on learning and where to best use the strategy, how the student’s brain is learning with the strategy, how to differentiate instruction with the strategy, modeling and guided practice with the strategy (including sample lesson plans), and an opportunity to transfer the knowledge to classroom application with real students.
• Provides for activation of prior knowledge and reflection activities to embed the learning into long term memory with every lesson in the course content.
• Provides many virtual tools - an animated assistant, video help, a Toolkit, Conference Center, and Learning Log to demonstrate thinking and learning throughout the course. Powerpoint, weblinks, research resources, instructional materials from the web store, and downloadable documents are also available to teachers to use in each class.
• Accredited by California State University – Bakersfield. All courses receive 3 or 4 quarter graduate credits (optional) and Proficiency Certificates and CEUs are provided to teachers who successfully demonstrate proficiency with the strategy.