Bring the Arizona K12 Center to Your District with Customized Support

You might be familiar with the Arizona K12 Center's events and programs offered at their Professional Learning Center in Phoenix or in conference centers around the state. But did you know you can bring many of the Arizona K12 Center's offerings to your district or school site?

The Arizona K12 Center can partner with you to bring research-based customized training and support to your school or district. These offerings include:

   -Cognitive Coaching Training
   -Induction and Mentoring Support
   -Instructional Rounds Training
   -National Board Promotion
   -STEM Support

Read a few details about what these services or support can look like. Already know you'd like to partner with us?

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Cognitive Coaching Training
Create a culture shift in how your district supports teachers by training your mentors and instructional coaches in Cognitive Coaching.

Cognitive Coaching is a research-based model that capitalizes upon and enhances teachers’ cognitive processes. The ultimate goal of Cognitive Coaching is to support teachers in their ability to self-monitor, self-analyze, and self-evaluate.

Through a work agreement with the Arizona K12 Center, you can bring Thinking Collaborative’s Cognitive Coaching Foundation or Advanced Seminar to your school, district, or program. (Individuals can register to attend an upcoming Cognitive Coaching workshop at azk12.org/events.) One-day workshops on particular aspects of Cognitive Coaching are also available.

In Cognitive Coaching, the focus is on strategies that enhance teachers’ intellectual growth and strengthen instructional decision-making. During the workshops, trained facilitators demonstrate and help participants practice the maps and tools of Cognitive Coaching. Specifically, participants learn to establish rapport, create trust, and conduct planning, reflecting, and problem-resolving conversations. These maps and tools develop teacher self-efficacy and cognitive autonomy, while also developing a sense of community within a school.

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Induction and Mentoring Support
Starting a Program
Supporting beginning teachers with a research-backed approach is instrumental in addressing teacher quality and retention, and, in turn, student learning, in Arizona. As the population most likely to leave the profession, teachers in their first three years of teaching require effective induction and mentoring support in your district.

The Arizona K12 Center’s Arizona New Teacher Support Program uses the evidence-based New Teacher Center induction and mentoring model. This approach provides a highly trained and supported instructional mentor to novice teachers (those in years 1-3) and creates systems of support and learning for beginning teachers and their students. We also align this work with Arizona’s Beginning Teacher Induction Program Standards and Arizona’s Professional Teaching Standards.

Learn more about how to participate in the full Arizona New Teacher Support Program, including funding for a full-release mentor and professional learning, at this link. That 

Many of the events that are a part of the Arizona New Teacher Support Program are open to all Arizona schools and districts. Register for those upcoming events, such as Mentor Institute, at azk12.org/events.

Continuous Improvement
Looking to enhance your established new teacher induction program?

The Arizona K12 Center can work directly with your district to align your induction and mentoring support to Arizona’s Beginning Teacher Induction Program Standards. Using the associated Induction Toolkit, we can assist districts in self-assessing current programming, understanding and implementing best practices related to the standards, and developing intentional instructional mentoring work.

Like our complete Arizona New Teacher Support Program, we base our guidance on the research-based, data-driven New Teacher Center induction and mentoring model aligned this work with Arizona’s Beginning Teacher Induction Program Standards and Arizona’s Professional Teaching Standards.

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Instructional Rounds Training
Bring this practice inspired by medical rounds to your school and unite your leadership team in observing, analyzing, and improving teaching and learning.

The process of instructional rounds embodies a specific set of ideas about how practitioners can work together to improve their practice. In the education context, this practice is designed to help schools, districts, and state systems support high-quality teaching and learning for all students. Instructional rounds introduce teachers and educational leaders to the key principles and practices of an effective, learner-centered approach to observing, analyzing, and improving teaching and learning.

Through a work agreement with the Arizona K12 Center, you can bring an instructional rounds series of workshops to your school, district, or program.

You’ll learn how instructional rounds strategically connect school, district, and state efforts with improvements at the instructional core, building collaborative networks of educators who learn from one another about improving teaching and learning. You will visit multiple classrooms where you can apply effective protocols and build your skills around the practice of instructional rounds. As a participant, you also will consider how to integrate these elements into your own improvement process.

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National Board Promotion
Is there interest at your site in learning about the National Board Certification process?

Created by teachers and for teachers, National Board Certification provides the opportunity to deeply reflect on your practice. It is tailored to your teaching, your content, and your specific students.

The Arizona K12 Center can provide a one-hour promotional meeting at your school to share about the power of National Board Certification and the details of the process. We can also share with administrators or school board members about the importance and impact of this work.

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STEM Support
The Arizona K12 Center can connect you to Northern Arizona University’s Center for STEM Teaching and Learning (CSTL), which can partner with your school in a variety of ways to support your STEM programming.

The following are some options of professional learning CSTL can provide:  

   -STEM analysis and systemic professional learning plan
   -STEM content growth of teachers
   -STEM teacher leadership
   -Relevant, inclusive STEM programming
   -Arizona and Next Generation Science Standards
   -STEM-specific professional learning, such as
               -Engineering is Elementary
               -Making Sense of Science
               -Robotics
               -Model-Based Inquiry
               -Geospatial Inquiry
               -Data-rich, place-based learning
   -Out-of-school time STEM learning opportunities
   -Customized professional learning and/or long-term programs focused on what you need

Request to talk to someone more about the support you are interested in at this form. Are there other programs or services we might help bring to your district? Let us know at info@azk12.org.