It is with great pleasure that we bring this catalog of professional development offerings to ensure that educators are able to increase literacy outcomes for students. Schools Cubed offers a variety of mini-courses proven to be effective for many different stakeholders- Teachers, Interventionists, Administrators, and even Paraprofessionals- specifically designed to address many of the common challenges schools face when raising literacy achievement.
Systems, Structures and the Science of Reading are the key ingredients in all highly-performing schools.
Strong SYSTEMS ensure effective collaboration and give teachers the data they need to measure progress and performance.
Successful schools have STRUCTURES place to ensure school days are learning-focused and maximize instructional time.
High-performing schools know and use instructional strategies based on the SCIENCE OF READING to achieve exceptionally high outcomes for students.
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Contact Schools Cubed:
303.549.8676
www.schoolscubed.com
School leadership is second to teaching among school-related factors in its impact on student learning, according to research.
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Moreover, principals strongly shape the conditions for high-quality teaching and are the prime factor in determining whether teachers stay in high-needs schools. High-quality principals, therefore, are vital to the effectiveness of our nation’s public schools, especially those serving the children with the fewest advantages in life. (Wallace Found).
This course is an overview of the research behind How Children Learn to Read and is rooted in the Science of Reading. Participants will have a clear understanding of the implications of oral language, phonological processing and learn the necessity of a structured literacy approach. Can be customized to be delivered with your school’s core reading program.
Participants will learn the basis of the learning process and what can hinder a student’s ability to learn. Also discussed are high-leverage instructional strategies including explicit instruction, how to design and deliver a lesson, and effective lesson planning tools for both whole group and small group instruction.
Participants in this session will develop a clear understanding of what creates a solid Response to Intervention through a multi-tiered system of support. This is a highly interactive session. Attendees will reflect on practices they already have in place, determine what needs to be developed, and will walk away with a specific action plan to establish a complete system that will ensure success for all students.
Often teachers are unaware or lack the knowledge of what a good literacy block looks like. This session delves into how the literacy block should be constructed, what components of reading are critical to teach, the necessary timeframes for each component, and a gradual transfer of responsibility from teacher to student. Participants also learn the purposes and research behind small group instruction and how to differentiate. Can be customized to be delivered with your school’s core reading program.
The question of what comprises quality interventions for struggling students is addressed. The research behind high-quality interventions, how to select a research-based intervention, the lay- out for instruction, as well as the varying times and intensity for grade levels is also incorporated into this session. A proprietary Intervention Calculator, which supports leadership in determining how many minutes and sessions of interventions a school needs is included.
Many schools offer daily interventions for students, but often the strategies used during the small group instruction do not reflect research-based practices. Participants will learn numerous instructional strategies that have proven to be effective for students in all areas of literacy. A sampling of the strategies include:
Often educators know how to give the assessment, and even how to interpret the results. But, what is often missed are considerations for what we actually do with the data to target instruction for students. This session addresses what the outcomes of a high-quality literacy assessment can inform a teacher about instruction and how to create an action plan.
Choosing the correct assessments to guide literacy instruction can be a daunting task. This professional development session explains what we should be assessing, why we should assess it, and examples of appropriate assessments to consider. Benchmark tools used for screening, progress monitoring and diagnostic assessments are covered. A background on the reading brain and how it links to assessment is also included.
The switch to remote learning has highlighted the urgency for teachers to have access to high- quality instructional materials that are also appropriate for e-learning. Some vendors provide a technology component to core/intervention resources that are supportive to teachers in easily delivering remote instruction. However, many schools have found some of their most impactful resources ineffective for remote learning. Let us work with you to establish systems and routines to ensure all teachers and students have rigorous materials to be effective for remote learning.