Common Core Standards
QTL eases the transition to Common Core State Standards, and provides a solid plan for providing proven professional development that shows teachers new ways to ensure that students truly comprehend the content.
Though objectives and standards may shift, most teachers already understand the subjects they're teaching. QTL focuses on strategies for analyzing the standards and teaching any content more effectively. QTL programs are a perfect choice for Common Core professional development for many reasons:
- The move to higher standards and assessments at a time of decreasing budgets will require teachers to become both more effective and more efficient. QTL establishes common goals for raising student achievement, a common vocabulary for collaborative efforts, and a common vision for successful transition to Common Core State Standards.
- QTL promotes and supports innovative ways to reach students, and helps teachers design more effective lessons.
- Common Core State Standards replace the “deep and wide” approach to curriculum with an increased emphasis on "deeper learning" and skill development. This transition requires a new emphasis on developing teacher talent. QTL is focused on teacher efficacy, regardless of content. The research-based strategies modeled and practiced in QTL programs engage students and support “deeper learning” of the content being taught.
- QTL facilitates the planning and delivery of cross-curricular and integrated lessons.
- QTL encourages teachers to think critically about instructional design, planning lessons that engage students and achieve specific learning goals. Our emphasis on ongoing assessment and effective use of data sets the stage for mid-course correction when necessary, with greater student success as the result.
- QTL incorporates concepts such as thematic units, collaborative planning, differentiation, RBT, and higher levels of learning which are crucial components of preparation for Common Core.
- Standards tell teachers what to teach. QTL provides new strategies for how to teach in a way that meets the goals of CCSS: higher expectations, deeper understanding, greater collaboration, and increased achievement.
Though many of these elements are incorporated into every QTL program, certain programs offer close alignment with Common Core professional development needs.
- QTL Staff Development programs (QTL Foundations, QTLCS, QTL Practicum) are comprehensive multi-day sessions that model best instructional practices, collaborative planning and student engagement.
- The 21st Century Classroom Series features workshops and coaching on the use of available classroom technology with specific research-based strategies.
- QTL Leadership Seminars build administrators' capacity for supporting high quality teaching.
- Any of these programs may be followed by Teacher and Leadership Coaching.
Request more information.