An innovative professional development strategy that facilitates change, improves instruction, and transforms school culture! Instructional coaching is a research-based, job-embedded approach to instructional intervention that provides the assistance and encouragement necessary to implement school improvement programs. Experienced trainer and researcher Jim Knight describes the "nuts and bolts" of instructional coaching and explains the essential skills that instructional coaches need, including getting teachers on board, providing model lessons, and engaging in reflective conversations. Each user-friendly chapter includes: First-person stories from successful coaches Sidebars highlighting important information A "Going Deeper" section of suggested resources Ready-to-use forms, worksheets, checklists, logs, and reports

Manual written for teachers, administrators and other school professionals covering all the essentials of creating and sustaining effective co-teaching programs for students with disabilities and other special needs.

Teachers and administrators will learn how to create the respectful, trusting relationships with families necessary to build the educational partnerships that best support children's learning. The book will cover the mindset and core beliefs required to bond with families, and will provide guidance on how to plan engagement opportunities and events throughout the school year that undergird effective partnerships between families and schools.

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.

This book describes in simple terms exactly how schools should align and organize professional learning to ensure significant positive change in teaching and student learning. The author's partnership principles-a humanizing approach to professional learning-apply to workshops, intensive learning teams (a focused form of professional learning communities), and instructional coaching. This is the first in a two volume series that is designed to provide a simple (not simplistic) framework and a set of tools for improving teaching in schools. (The second volume, The Big Four, was proposed last year.)

Help ELLs achieve success with an integrated, collaborative program! Teacher collaboration and co-teaching are proven strategies for helping students with diverse needs achieve academically. Now this practical resource provides a step-by-step guide to making collaboration and co-teaching work for general education teachers and English as a second language (ESL) specialists to better serve the needs of English language learners (ELLs). The authors address the fundamental questions of collaboration and co-teaching, examine how a collaborative program helps ELLs learn content while meeting English language development goals, and offer information on school leaders' roles in facilitating collaboration schoolwide. Featuring six in-depth case studies, this guide helps educators: Understand the benefits and challenges of collaborative service delivery Choose from a range of strategies and configurations, from informal planning and collaboration to a fully developed co-teaching partnership Use templates, planning guides, and other practical tools to put collaboration into practice Evaluate the strategies' success using the guidelines, self-assessments, and questionnaires included Collaboration and Co-Teaching helps ESL, ELL, and general education teachers combine their expertise to provide better support for their ELLs!

A bold, brain-based teaching approach to culturally responsive instruction To close the achievement gap, diverse classrooms need a proven framework for optimizing student engagement. Culturally responsive instruction has shown promise, but many teachers have struggled with its implementation—until now. In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction. The book includes: Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships Ten “key moves” to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners Prompts for action and valuable self-reflection