Training & Events

Please check back often for upcoming training events


Teacher Evaluation: Foundational Skills for Evaluators of Teachers

(Previously entitled Teacher Evaluation 5-day Training)
Audience: New evaluators of teachers/service providers [5 full-days, in-person]

Feedback Form

The newly revised CSDE Foundational Skills for Evaluators of Teachers training is designed to concentrate on the evaluator’s capacity to observe and analyze teacher performance and practice inherent in the CT Common Core of Teaching (CCT) and to provide supportive, high quality feedback to teachers. The primary focus of this training is on written feedback that focuses on areas of strengths and areas of growth explicitly connected to the rubric and observable classroom practices/evidence.
The training is designed to link written feedback to verbal feedback and coaching strategies. This supports not only the evaluator’s ability to organize written feedback but consider how this feedback creates a platform for formal conferences that are instructionally focused, dialogic, and student-centered.
Training includes both formative reviews of practice along with a final demonstration of proficiency. Participants take part in two formal video-based observations during the five-day training. Participants will receive feedback about their own practice that will help to codify key skills and prepare them to connect teacher practice to student learning.

Note: Participants must bring a laptop with Microsoft Word (version 7 or later) and headphones.

Dates Location Times
February 28, March 1-2, March 7-8, 2017 CREC 8:30am-3:30pm

Administrator Evaluation: Foundational Skills for Evaluators of Administrators

Audience: New evaluators of administrators [2 full-days, in-person]
Feedback Form

Participants in this 2-day workshop will examine the leader evaluation and support process and become acquainted with their role as evaluators of educational leaders through a case study simulation. In this training administrators will have the opportunity to understand and interact with the newly-revised CT Leader Evaluation and Support Rubric 2015.

Dates Location Times
February 6 & 7 (Snow date 2/8) CAS 8:30AM – 3:30PM

Introduction to the New CT Leader Evaluation and Support Rubric 2015

Audience: Evaluators of administrators and administrators [1 half-day, in-person]

Feedback Form

The new CCL Leader Evaluation and Support Rubric 2015 replaces the former SEED rubric utilized in the past by most districts for the purposes of evaluating and supporting the growth of their educational leaders.  This workshop will lead participants through the new rubric to become familiar with and to gain an understanding of the evaluation and support dimensions of this updated document.

Dates Location Times

Creating a Growth Mindset for Developing Student Learning Goals

Audience: Teachers and administrators (teams of at least three encouraged) [1 half-day, in-person]

Feedback Form

As districts continue to move from compliance to coherence when implementing educator evaluation and support systems, approaching the development of student learning goals with a growth mindset can be a key leverage tool to improve student learning. During this three-hour training, participants will learn how to identify school-wide student learning goals that have the greatest leverage to improve student learning and how to effectively communicate those goals to staff and encourage collaboration and shared responsibility for student learning.

Dates Location Times

CT Evidence Guides: Enhancing Practice and Professional Dialogue

Audience: Administrators and teachers (teams are encouraged) [1 half-day, in-person]

Educators from across Connecticut convened over the summer 2014 to develop content-specific sample evidence aligned to the CCT Rubric for Effective Teaching 2014 and the CCT Rubric for Effective Service Delivery 2015.  This session will provide teams of administrators and teachers with an overview of the CT Evidence Guides and strategies to enhance performance, practice and professional dialogue.

Dates Location Times

The Big Picture on Educator Evaluation for Student and Educator Support Specialists

Audience: Evaluators of service providers and service providers [1 full-day, in-person]

Feedback Form

In this full day session, educators will have the opportunity to understand and interact with the CCT Rubric for Effective Teaching 2015. Additionally, they will discuss the development of high-quality goals/objectives to improve student/adult learning. This training session is highly recommended for administrators who evaluate service providers as well as practitioners interested in deepening their understanding of the evaluation process. This is a supplemental training to the 5-day Foundational Skills for Evaluators of Teachers training.

Dates Location Times

High-Quality Feedback in the Evaluation Process: Strategies, Resource and Structures

Audience: Evaluators of teachers and/or administrators (teams are encouraged) [3 half-days, in-person]

Providing high-quality feedback is an essential part of the educator evaluation and support cycle. Evaluators will interact with a range of tools designed to improve their skills at engaging educators in collaborative conversations that lead to professional growth. Evaluators will learn strategies to improve teacher effectiveness through both formal and informal settings. Suggested Prerequisite: Some experience in supervisory or evaluative role. Previous training in the educator evaluation process.

Dates Location Times

Foundational Training for Professional Development and Evaluation Committees (PDECs)

Audience: Members of local or regional PDEC (Teams are encouraged) [1 full-day, in-person]

Participants in this foundational full day training will consist of active members of a Professional Development and Evaluation Committee (PDEC). As a team, participants will gain an understanding of Connecticut’s vision for professional learning, define the PDEC’s role in the development or adoption of the district educator evaluation and support program and in developing a district-wide system of professional learning, focused on collaboratively developing a shared vision of professional learning. At the end of the session, teams will have developed an action plan for moving the work of their PDEC forward.

Dates Location Times

Principles of Coherence: Making Connections to Support Student Growth and Development

Audience: Building and district leadership teams [1 half-day, in-person]

The Principles of Coherence Modules will explore the themes of focus and demonstrating the power of connecting improvement through-points from the student-teacher/classroom to principal/building to the superintendent/district level. These sessions will also provide a foundational understanding for how this approach can be used to build a comprehensive district-wide plan, which would link instructional practice and assessment strategies to this through-point framework.  Additional in-district work would be required to complete the planning process.

Dates Location Times