Content-focused courses are open to past and present Coaching Certificate participants.
Our courses take a practice-oriented approach to the work of coaching that applies broadly across content areas. These content-focused courses allow participants to zoom in on a particular content area for deeper exploration around standards and learning targets, the alignment and design of formative assessments, and the analysis of student evidence in order to make next instructional steps.
We welcome a wide range of content-area expertise in these courses, as they are designed for participants across the spectrum. Content-area teacher leaders will have the opportunity to connect their knowledge to the student-centered coaching model and then extend and apply it to K-12 content-area instruction.
Participants consider how these essential practices relate specifically to current expectations of K-12 literacy or mathematics instruction. Participants engage in collaborative discourse at their sites and within online Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) as they work to build a culture of literacy or math learning for students and educators, examine what student-centered means in a literacy or mathematics classroom, and collaborate to extend their learning and further develop content-specific resources for use back at their sites.
Building on the description above, these courses have three central areas of focus:
- Building a culture of learning as it relates to literacy or math for students, teachers, and coaches.
- Examining what “student-centered” means in a literacy or math classroom context.
- Sharing experiences and resources to support one another in developing specific plans for the school year.
The content-specific courses can be taken at any time following the successful completion of the Foundations of Student-Centered Coaching course.
Participants who complete the four-course coaching series in addition to either Student-Centered Coaching in Literacy or Math will receive a coaching certificate with this distinction.
Certificate Overview
- Complete the four-course series completely online.
- Complete an additional content-focused coaching course in Literacy or Mathematics
- Develop and expand understandings and applications for student-centered coaching within a particular content area. This will include analysis of content-area standards and learning targets; alignment and development of formative assessment to elicit meaningful student evidence; analysis and discussion around student evidence and next instructional steps.