Professional Development Resources
EPIC professional development session plans integrate case studies from the EPIC Knowledge System, school artifacts, and customized tools into rigorous learning experiences where school leaders use the examples of others to reflect on and examine their own practices and adapt strategies for their school contexts. The session plans are excellent resources for districts or CMOs planning professional development for their school leaders and leadership teams.
Session plans are available in these areas:
Facilitating Effective Data Teams
Identify and analyze key processes that enable effective facilitation of data-team meetings. Participants engage in small-group and whole-group discussions, as well as reflect on their own capacity to lead or support data teams.
Facilitating Standard- and Item-Level Data Analysis
Facilitate a data-analysis meeting that results in teachers identifying the causes of student misconceptions and developing reteaching strategies. Workshop includes video, role-play activities, and postwork.
Standards- and Item-Level Data Analysis and Action-Planning
Use standards-level data analysis to identify focus standards and hypothesize common student misconceptions through item-level analysis. Workshop includes two videos, facilitated discussion, and action-planning. Postwork includes videotaping data analysis during data-team meeting.
Developing Sustainable Systems for Using Data
Identify elements of a high-functioning, self-sustaining data system against the framework of Fullan's sixth management principle, "Systems Learn." Workshop includes two videos and group discussion.
Developing Teacher Capacity for Using Data
Reflect on role of principal to drive faculty's instructional conversations using data. Workshop includes two videos, prework to rate indicators of data-driven instruction at one's school, and participant poll.
Leading Data Teams
Lead and support data teams to impact teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Workshop includes two videos and facilitated discussion.
Monitoring Corrective Instruction
Evaluate corrective instruction to determine if it addresses core concepts behind student misconceptions and provides more targeted instruction. Workshop includes personal and peer review of videotaped corrective instruction action-planning meetings and role-play activities for participants to give feedback about corrective instruction.
Leading Corrective-Instruction Action-Planning and Planning for a Full Data Cycle
Identify effective strategies for corrective instruction in preparation for leading data-driven action-planning for teachers. Establish a cycle of data analysis and action-planning to plan more efficiently for data meetings. Workshop includes video, sample action-planning, and postwork.
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Leading Post-Observation Conferences
Explore ways to lead post-observation conferences and provide feedback to teachers. Workshop includes two videos, prework, participant polls, and postwork. Discussion includes how to identify appropriate contexts for directive and facilitative approaches.
Principal Observations
Investigate how principals observe classrooms to assess quality of instruction. Workshop includes two videos, participant polls, and discussion around varied ways principals gather data during observations and the kinds of information a principal may gather in formal and informal evaluations.
Engaging Teachers in Post-Observation Conferences
Identify elements of productive classroom observations that lead to teacher growth. Workshop includes two videos, role-play activities, and small- and whole-group discussion. Participants also evaluate the pros and cons of directive and facilitative approaches to classroom observations and debriefs.
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Establishing a School Vision
Articulate a personal vision, as well as assess capacity to convey school vision and achieve buy-in. Workshop includes two videos, visioning exercise, and postwork. A Visioning Graphic Organizer allows participants to define the "end state" aligned to their personal vision.
School Vision-Setting
Observe and analyze how school leaders establish, communicate, and enact their school vision. Workshop includes two videos, prework, participant polls, and postwork. Participants complete visioning exercise and draft and share their own vision statements.
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Preparing for Entry into a New School
Explore how to earn credibility with staff. Workshop includes two videos and small- and whole-group discussion. Participants also reflect on their own challenges in establishing themselves as school leaders.
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High-Performing Teams
Observe and analyze how principals guide and support high-performing teams, including vertical and grade-level teams. Workshop includes two videos, prework, participant polls, and self-reflection activities.
Managing Structural and Cultural Change
Evaluate skills and practices for facilitating change at one's school against the framework of Fullan's The Six Secrets of Change. Workshop includes two videos and group discussion.
Meeting Protocols and Agendas
Identify critical elements to successful meetings. Workshop includes two videos, prework, participant polls, and group discussion on value of directive facilitation versus giving teachers autonomy for meetings.
Team-Building
Identify key aspects to achieving team effectiveness. Workshop includes two videos, participant polls, postwork. Also includes group discussion on role a principal should play in setting expectations for teams.
Honing Facilitation Skills
Examine how role and skill of facilitator shape faculty's capacity to build a sense of shared purpose. Also explore structures necessary to lead meetings that produce results. Individual work and group share-outs on action plans to advance literacy goals.
Defining What It Means for Teachers to Talk Meaningfully About Practice
Identify how instructional leaders cultivate high-functioning, self-directed, teacher-led conversations about student achievement. Workshop includes two videos, participant polls, individual work, and group share-outs on action plans to develop PLCs.
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Holding Yourself and Your Team Accountable
Identify potential "dysfunctions" at work on your and your peers' teams, based on Patrick Lencioni's book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and create a plan to achieve team and personal leadership goals. Workshop also includes two videos, role-play activity, and postwork.
SMART Goal-Setting and Action-Planning for Results
Establish targeted and high-impact SMART goals, and create manageable and effective action plans for your team with "dysfunctions" in mind, based on Patrick Lencioni's book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Workshop also includes video, peer feedback, and postwork.
Preparing to Lead Effective Teams
Identify the elements of effective teams and team "dysfunctions," based on Patrick Lencioni's book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Workshop includes two videos, role-play activity, self-assessment and goal-setting, and postwork.
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