Exceptional Teacher Training Through the Cotsen Foundation

During the past three years our District has been highly involved with the Cotsen Foundation in Southern California. The Cotsen Foundation, www.cotsen.org, is an amazing foundation dedicated to the commitment of improving the excellence of teaching. The support and guidance that we receive from the Cotsen Foundation is one of the most influential partnerships in the history of our school district. Within a three-year period this foundation has invested over $350,000 and has provided endless resources in the area of staff development. Soquel Elementary School staff deserves the highest accommodations for their professional commitment and willingness to participate in this rigorous teacher training/support program.

The commitment of this entire staff to obtain intensive staff development training is a tribute to their professionalism. Recently Soquel Elementary School was a visiting site for principals throughout our county to observe the excellent instruction in the area of Readers/Writers Workshop. Administrators throughout the county observed a school wide delivery of instruction that engaged our students and was academically rigorous.

As we prepare for Common Core assessments, it is our goal to implement exceptional professional staff development training program that mirrors the training opportunities that have been provided to teachers at Soquel Elementary School. Under the leadership of Principal Gerri Fippin, the staff has been able to obtain intensive professional staff development training.

For the past two summers some of the teachers at Soquel Elementary School were accepted to Teachers College at Columbia University (New York) for exceptional training programs. This amazing opportunity has galvanized the staff at Soquel Elementary School and has generated pathways for enriched interactive curriculum to occur at every grade level. The common bond through this exceptional training pathway has enabled the teaching staff at Soquel Elementary School to be able to maximize individual talents and to work seamlessly in the restructuring of class time in order to benefit all students.

What we have learned from our partnership with the Cotsen Foundation is that their strategic plan to develop gifted teachers has “fired-up” the staff at Soquel Elementary School. The continuity of instruction that exists among the teaching staff is directly influenced by the professional staff development opportunities that are a by-product of the Cotsen Teacher program.

Since the entire staff has actively participated for three years in intensive training opportunities, we as a district can adopt Soquel’s training module to expand upon our efforts to instill school wide targeted trainings in specific curriculums. One of our goals is to have every teacher in our district trained and be highly skilled in the delivery of instruction for the Readers/Writers Workshop. We now have the ability to utilize Soquel Elementary School as an observation site for these two academic programs.

It is exciting to engage with educators who share their resources and have fellow colleagues visiting their classrooms. Having colleagues visit your classroom and provide feedback is a powerful strategy for continuous improvement. In addition, this strategy has immensely strengthened the collaborative spirit of all teaching staff members.

As Superintendent of the Soquel School District I have been extremely pleased at the high level of professionalism and commitment that is being demonstrated by the entire Soquel Elementary School teaching staff. With the hiring of a new Director of Curriculum we will implement similar training modules for teaching staff at our other schools.

The highlight of implementing similar training modules for our teachers will give us the ability to utilize numerous teacher experts within our district. Having gifted teachers within our district to lead intensive professional staff development is a significant motivating strategy to increase stronger teacher collaboration throughout the district.

Given the challenges that all school districts in California will address with our state’s Common Core requirements, we are implementing a professional staff development strategy that will enable us to provide outstanding classroom instruction for all children. We are excited to be able to maximizes our teacher’s talents and to develop student enriched and engaged curriculum.