One-week courses at Northwestern’s highly ranked School of Education and Social Policy this summer immerse teachers in leading-edge strategies for instructional coaching, science teaching and gifted education. Completing four courses in a sequence earns teachers a Certificate of Advanced Study in Education from Northwestern.

Instructional Coaching

“Instructional Coaching classes offer teacher leaders the opportunity to explore the latest in research and practical tools for working with teachers and designing professional development,” says professor Miriam Sherin, an expert in the use of video as a resource for teacher professional development. The Instructional Coaching sequence prepares teacher leaders for coaching other teachers and leading professional development in their school districts. Instructional Coaching faculty including Sherin are widely known for their research on student and teacher learning and leadership of Northwestern’s teacher preparation program.

For the Instructional Coaching certificate, teachers complete four of the following five courses, most of which are offered this summer:

• Understanding Teacher Development and Growth
• Using Video for Professional Learning, I and II
• Instructional Coaching and Evaluation
• Professional Development Design and Facilitation

Next Generation Science Teaching

Next Generation Science Teaching courses support teachers in implementing the new vision of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for teaching K-12 science. The four-course sequence is project-based, as it examines the new standards and how to apply them in dynamic new ways in each teacher’s classroom. With NGSS, Illinois schools have adopted a new vision of science teaching that emphasizes science and engineering practices, coherence across science strands, and explanation of real phenomena and problem-solving. Most of the courses are co-taught by professor Brian Reiser, an author of the Framework for K-12 Science that guided design of NGSS.

For the Next Generation Science Teaching certificate, teachers complete these four courses, available this summer and summer 2017:

• Teaching with the Next Generation Science Standards
• Using Video for Professional Learning I
• Science Curriculum Materials Design and Adaptation, I and II

The Gifted

“Our longest-running Certificate of Advanced Study is in gifted education and is unique because three of the four classes are offered completely online, which is a great convenience for busy teachers,” says Tim Dohrer, director of the Master of Science in Education Program at SESP.

This summer an on-campus class in Differentiated Instruction for Gifted Learners is being offered. The advanced teaching certificate in The Gifted is designed to help teachers better meet the unique needs of gifted students, as well as to investigate how to create a challenging environment for all learners.

Ideas for the Classroom

“These Advanced Study courses offer teachers a convenient way of diving into cutting-edge pedagogy and content that they can implement in their classrooms immediately,” says Dohrer. “We select strands based on current needs in schools and the expertise and research of SESP faculty.”

For example, the Next Generation Science Standards certificate flows directly out of  Reiser’s work as an author of the new national standards and his research with K-12 teachers on implementing those standards.

“Instructional coaching is a fast-growing area of teacher leadership, and SESP is doing some incredible work with coaches in Illinois and across the country. We are especially lucky to have professor Miriam Sherin here, who is a leading researcher in teacher development and the use of video in improving instruction,” Dohrer says.

Learn more about classes for the Advanced Teaching Certificate.