Columbus Public Schools recognizes the importance of instructional support for staff members. CPS strongly believes in providing positive and ongoing training opportunities, which translate to consistent instruction throughout the school day. Listed below are instructional support opportunities offered at CPS.

Coaches are professional leaders and teachers who model, collaborate and instruct educators how to use and apply evidence-based practices within their classrooms to improve student learning and achievement.

Roles of a Coach

• Supporter of Student Learning - Assists teachers with design and delivery of instruction to promote student success.

• Instructional Specialist - Assists teachers with planning, organizing, development, and best practices to meet the needs of our students.

• Learning Facilitator - Ensures professional development becomes a natural and embedded practice within the classroom.

• Classroom Supporter - Provides support and feedback to novice and veteran teachers for professional growth.

  
  

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PLC is an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. PLCs operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators.

Columbus Public Schools is a professional learning community, meaning we live by a process of collaborative work that provides continuous job-embedded learning. The work of over 30 district teams carries out into the buildings and into the classroom to improve student learning. These teams are the foundation and overall strength of a much larger organization. A PLC is not a meeting or a program, rather a process for doing things the right way.

Three fundamental elements of PLC are:

• Focus on Learning - a focus and commitment to the learning of each student at high levels

• Collaborative Culture - a systematic process in which teachers work together interdependently in order to influence their classroom practice in ways that will lead to better results for students

• Results Orientation - a focus on the results of our work through the development of learning goals and common formative assessments, and gathering evidence to address student needs

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Professional learning is training and collaboration intended to help administrators, teachers, and other educators improve their professional knowledge, competence, skill, and effectiveness.

The key to improved learning for students is continuous high-quality learning for educators. Highly effective schools take extraordinary steps to build instructional capacity with teachers to ensure effective teaching occurs in every classroom, every day.

Professional Learning is most effective when it is:

• Sustained over long periods of time

• Supported by booster training, collaboration, and feedback

• Connected directly to what teachers are actually doing in the classroom

Examples of Professional Learning:

• Well-Managed Classroom Training

• ASOT (Art and Science of Teaching) by Marzano

• Healthy School Culture

• Common Assessment Training

• PLC (Professional Learning Community) Institute

• Early Interventions in Reading Training

• Template Training

• Technology Integration Training (Google, Apple, iPad, Computer, etc.)

• DIBELS Training

• L to J Training

• Sheltered Instruction Training

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Mentors are experienced teachers who provide educational leadership and facilitate collaboration to help new teachers navigate through their first year of teaching. All new CPS teachers are provided with a mentor.

Mentor Roles

• Introduce and orient the new teacher to the building and school policies and procedures

• Locate and share materials

• Observe the new teacher's classroom to provide objective feedback

• Arrange reciprocal classroom visits with other teachers

• Model or demonstrate lessons

Mentee Benefits

• Receive ongoing support during their first year at CPS

• Learn fundamental instructional and classroom management techniques

• Gain a deeper understanding of content

• Receive guidance in technology

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