CT3’s mission is to transform the quality and culture of education for youth, especially those in traditionally disenfranchised communities. The organization’s transformative and sustainable professional development centers around their innovative and research-validated “No-Nonsense Nurturer” approach to classroom management. Alongside this training, the organization offers real-time teacher and leadership coaching, virtual leadership coaching, and in-depth anti-racist school culture training aimed at building culturally relevant classrooms. With all of their work, CT3 builds capacity with their partners to implement anti-racist practices and to dismantle the systemic structures that have historically impeded self-confidence and academic outcomes among historically disenfranchised youth. (For more information about CT3, please visit https://www.ct3education.com)

Using TORSH Talent for Leadership Coaching Simply Made Sense

Pre-pandemic, CT3 had already found success using TORSH Talent for video support. Once pandemic restrictions and regulations forced schools to transition to the virtual space, CT3 discovered the usefulness of the platform for their real-time leadership coaching work. TORSH provided the organization and its coaches with “eyes on the ground when we couldn’t actually be on the ground. What TORSH has allowed us to do is to keep our people in their homes, and they are still able to give quality feedback and do important work without exhausting themselves flying three red eyes in five days,” Treadwell explained.

Principals and school leaders who were engaged in CT3’s leadership coaching were open to the shift in delivery because “it seemed like the right pivot, at the right time, for the right reasons.” The organization’s main challenge during this shift was to ensure that they were providing the same level of quality and rigor of work in the virtual space. CT3 prides itself on giving really actionable feedback and coaching plans, and our Talent platform allowed associates to continue to provide high-quality support to their partners.

Looking forward, CT3 plans to continue with a hybrid engagement style that combines in-person touchpoints with intentionally designed virtual sessions using the TORSH Talent platform.

A Necessary Emphasis on Anti-Racism and Equity

Although anti-racism was already playing a large role in CT3’s work, the organization re-committed itself to increased anti-racist engagement and education with all of its partners in June 2020. “During this time, we truly have to put equity at the center of our work. We really have to make sure that this time, we are focused on all scholars.”

CT3 has been empowering schools to be bold, act in anti-racist ways, and eliminate some of the policies that led us to the current inequitable state of our educational system. Pandemic difficulties have really highlighted that there are some structures built within schools that were meant to withstand challenging times like these, and some that were not.

In order to really tackle structural problems, schools must hold a mirror up to themselves and their own practices. As the primary thought partner for school leaders, CT3 spends a lot of time talking with principals about habits they have built together, habits they still need to build, and habits they need to break. “Our goal at CT3 is to continue to push our schools not to go back to ‘normal,’ because ‘normal’ didn’t serve all of our kids. ‘Normal’ serves some kids, and this became very clear very quickly, especially in terms of access to technology and use of that technology.”

CT3 hopes that COVID-era conversations surrounding this concern on a macro-scale will provide schools with the momentum to rethink and reimagine the conversation around learning loss, ultimately pushing forward sustainable and meaningful anti-racist solutions.

The post TORSH Talent Facilitates Business-as-Usual for CT3 Despite Pandemic Virtual Shift appeared first on Torsh.

TORSH is delighted to celebrate the fourth year of our partnership with Teach Plus, a service organization that provides professional development for teachers through various training and coaching programs. We sat down with Michael Savoy, their National Managing Director of Teacher Leadership Programs, to discuss the partnership and the ways in which TORSH Talent has allowed Teach Plus to continue with business-as-usual in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We felt fortunate that we had this opportunity to just continue to do the work as we have been doing,” Savoy began.  “Our work is a little different than many other coaching organizations, in that we’re not coaching classroom practice.”  

Michael Savoy, National Managing Director of Teacher Leadership Programs for Teach Plus

The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. The organization empowers expert teachers to advance policy changes and improve instructional leadership and teacher supports; trains and coaches teacher leaders to successfully mobilize and lead teacher teams; and empowers teacher leaders to be change agents among their peers and policymakers.  Since 2009, Teach Plus has trained thousands of teacher leaders across the country who are driving policy changes and improving the instructional practices of teachers to create an education system driven by equity, access, and excellence for all students.  (For more information, please visit https://teachplus.org)

In Search of Solutions to Support Their Dispersed Network of Coaches & Teachers

Four years ago, Teach Plus was searching for a solution to a pressing issue: how to maintain the same level of support and quality of coaching to an increasingly dispersed network of coaches and teachers. 

“Most of us with Teach Plus started out in an in-person position somewhere… but as the organization grew and we were starting to work with teachers spread out in different places, we realized that it didn’t always make sense to hire a local full-time coach.  We wanted to figure out how we could coach our teacher leaders without having to have someone physically sitting there with them all the time,” Savoy described. 

“Where I live is nowhere near any of the work that I do… TORSH gives me that opportunity to affect change on a lot of teachers without having to be physically in those spaces.”  

Though Savoy is based out of Maryland, he and Teach Plus’s other remote coaches are able to utilize TORSH Talent to work effectively with teachers across the country.  This expansion of possibilities and increased accessibility was a driving motive behind the organization’s decision to partner with TORSH.  “Being able to do my work from my space, without having to physically be in DC, or LA, or Chicago – that was where we were headed.  Ultimately, we’re thinking that we could have a teacher leader in the middle of Kansas, and we would still be able to support them and their leadership role without having to spend the money to fly one, or two, or three people all over the place,” Savoy explained.  “TORSH Talent has made it much easier for us to continue to keep our coaches where they are, wherever it is that they are located, and still utilize their talents effectively for supporting our teacher leaders.”  

Supporting Coaches from Coast to Coast

Savoy stressed that this support is vital when it comes to improving the quality of education and educational outcomes. Today, the organization reaches coast to coast and has eleven regional state programs serving teachers in both rural and urban school districts, from high-population-density states like Massachusetts to low-population-density states like New Mexico.  The programs currently support 300 teacher leaders across the United States using TORSH Talent.  

Savoy emphasized just how convenient it is to have “all of the tools in one place” – including features such as video uploads with time-synced comments, coaching rubrics, feedback, observations, coaching logs, and goal setting.  “With TORSH, I have the evidence, I have the feedback – it’s all right there.  It’s time-stamped….You don’t have to sit there and try to remember what you said when you were in the middle of something. The platform allows us to really focus our coaching conversations and provide targeted feedback in a way that simply isn’t an option when relying on memory alone.”  Savoy underscored the ways in which TORSH Talent has been invaluable to Teach Plus.

Virtual Coaching Before it Was Cool

No massive COVID-related growing pains for Teach Plus.  Reflecting on the process of adjusting to the virtual platform four years prior, he emphasized the collaborative nature of their partnership with TORSH and the customizable features of Talent.  “Back then, TORSH Talent was still in the process of being built.  Anytime I needed anything, I could reach out to our customer success rep and say, hey, it would be really great if we could have this feature or that addition… and our contact would say, okay, well, let’s go talk to the developers, and then our request would be completed,” Savoy extolled. 

Looking to the future, Savoy hopes that “virtual coaching options for teachers will become more available.”  

We at TORSH are continually honored to partner with innovative organizations such as Teach Plus, working to empower teachers to improve our educational landscape. 

Interested in learning how to expand the reach of your professional development offerings?

The post The Pre-Pandemic Virtual Coaching Solution That Positioned Teach Plus For Success appeared first on Torsh.

The stated mission of Region 10 ESC is to be a “trusted, student-focused partner that serves the learning community through responsive, innovative educational solutions.” We are beyond proud that Torsh TALENT, our proprietary teacher professional development platform, is one of the “innovative educational solutions” that Region 10 relies upon.

Our relationship with Region 10 ESC began in September of 2016. While based in Richardson, TX, they were helping train and mentor teachers and school administrators across a broad geographic area. They needed a tool that would facilitate virtual coaching, and that would allow their team to interact with educators in various locations within the region. Torsh TALENT met their needs, and then some. Through TALENT they could, among other things, deliver impactful training programs and connect educators with ESC consultants who are not co-located.

The organization continues to use TALENT in a myriad of ways. Teachers in a Region 10 training program can upload videos to the platform based on specific goals, and receive real-time feedback from ESC’s consultants. Teachers also use TALENT to submit “reflection forms” for each coaching cycle. Examples of of excellent instructional practice are uploaded, stored and shared within TALENT’s exemplar library feature, which was recently enhanced with new functionality.

The Region 10 and Torsh partnership has empowered the organization to “model a growing body of contemporary research that highlights the profound impact skilled and supported coaching has on schools.“ Moving forward, Region 10 ESC plans to launch even more innovative learning opportunities for teachers, rooted in real world insight and research-based strategies.

Kristin Hebert, Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning for Region 10 ESC, says that “TORSH’s virtual platform offers both simplicity and sophistication.  It allows all teachers, regardless of their experience and skill level, access to video repositories that demonstrate excellent teaching and to receive personalized, timely feedback.  We are excited about this partnership and the positive impact it will have on student achievement”.

The overarching goal of Region 10 ESC is to deliver services to teachers that ultimately enhance student achievement and improve student outcomes. This is an ideal that we wholeheartedly support. We are proud that Region 10 ESC relies on TALENT to deliver high-quality training and coaching services for the teachers in their region. Learn more about the educational services that Region 10 ESC delivers for Texas educators here.

The post Client Spotlight: Region 10 Education Service Center appeared first on Torsh.

Courtney Williams, CEO of Torsh and Marc Dembowski, Educational Technology Program Consultant for New Teacher Center (NTC) will lead a joint session entitled “Coaching and Mentoring in a Video World.” This seminar will examine the research behind video technology in the classroom, explore how NTC leverages video for learning, and share testimonials and best practices surrounding video’s role in teacher professional development. 

“Schools are just beginning to reap the benefits of video technology in the classroom,” said Courtney Williams. “NTC is an excellent example of an organization that is currently leveraging video to support teacher professional growth and development. Through our presentation at the symposium, we want to share with a wider audience the benefits, best practices, and challenges that NTC and some of our other clients have experienced with video.”

The joint presentation will also give attendees a closer look at Torsh TALENT, Torsh’s signature product that is currently used by NTC. Torsh TALENT is a video-based observation, feedback and data management platform that gives educators an opportunity to reflect on practice, collaborate with others, measure the effectiveness of instruction, and receive high quality coaching at scale. Attendees will get an inside look at how NTC uses the video annotation, collaboration and feedback tools on Torsh TALENT in their work with new teachers.

Torsh has been partnering with NTC since 2012, most notably with NTC’s e-Mentoring for Student Success (e-MSS) program. Through Torsh TALENT, NTC is able to remotely mentor and coach new teachers, which improves their effectiveness and desire to continue teaching. 

“Prior to using Torsh TALENT, conducting video observations was very difficult,” said Marc Dembowski. “Sharing a 15 minute video cannot be done through email, and we also did not want to use a public site to store our videos. [Additionally] … video observations had been optional for our teachers because of all the inherent challenges. Now it is a part of the expectations. All of our beginning teachers are using TALENT to conduct video observations with their mentors.”

All symposium attendees are invited to attend the “Coaching and Mentoring in a Video World” session on February 22nd at 2:50 pm. After the session, educators will have the opportunity to learn how Torsh TALENT can be utilized at their school or organization.

The Symposium is being held at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue, Washington. More information is available here.

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