Academic Approach supports school leadership and faculty in a coordinated manner to gather, analyze, and draw important insights from the education world and the college-readiness testing landscape.
Based on research and data, we work with your faculty to develop responsive instruction both within and across departments that seamlessly weaves skill-based test preparation into your curriculum.
Your faculty will learn to create and use assessments to analyze student progress, use data to drive continued instructional planning, and implement research-based best practices and instructional strategies to develop student mastery of essential college-readiness skills.
Professional Development
We offer virtual or in-person professional development sessions focused on:
Skills
College-entrance exam skills and rigor integration with curriculum and instruction
Research
Research-based instructional best practices around formative assessment, task and test complexity, and scaffolding approaches
Academic Approach measures the success of our teacher preparation by its impact and sustainability in furthering your school goals. Specific professional development options vary depending on goals for the school year. Our offerings can be delivered virtually or in-person and include:
Introductory Sessions: Orientation to college entrance exams and the skills they assess, including Career and College-Readiness Standards, SAT Domains and Dimensions, and the Common Core State Standards
Data Analysis Sessions: Analysis of your student data through the Data Driven Instructional Cycle (DDIC) process, including:
- Prioritization of high-impact, high-need skills, as evidenced by our unique Raw Score Gain Report or SAT Skills Insight Report*
- Analysis of student misconceptions and implications of rigor through item analysis
- Development of an instructional response rooted in the data
Instructional Best Practices: Workshops aligned to the benefit of assessment and instructional strategies that advance student mastery on essential and necessary college-readiness skills. Workshop offerings include:
- Formative Assessment Best Practices: Understand benefit of formative assessment, advance/adjust practice with formative assessment, and deliver numerous immediately usable strategies and materials
- Reading Instructional Strategies: Investigate practical teaching strategies that develop students into stronger readers every day and translate reading skills to performing well on the SAT
- Math Instructional Strategies: Analyze and discuss practical teaching strategies that help students master essential math skills and apply them to the SAT
- Rigor in the Classroom: Assess current understanding of rigor in the classroom and develop a set of best practices for promoting academic excellence
Curriculum Development: Collaboration with administrators, instructional coaches, and teachers to ensure curriculum coherency and alignment of expected outcomes and competencies of high school graduation.
SAT Skills Insight Report
The Skills Insight Report groups students by SAT skill-band and recommends high-frequency, high-need standards for growth based on those skill-bands. The Skills Insight Report enables you to:
Analyze the score band distribution for each grade level
Group students by score band in the data portal for additional data analysis
View recommended high-impact skills for the entire graduating class or groups of students based on their test scores
Investigate concrete instructional suggestions for improvement, example questions, and leveled assessments by difficulty level
FAQ
For whom is the professional development suited?
Academic Approach professional development sessions can be tailored to meet the needs of any audience. The Academic Approach representative will work with you to ensure your professional development sessions are aligned to meet your participants’ specific needs and goals.
How far in advance do I need to schedule the sessions?
We ask that professional development sessions be scheduled at least two weeks in advance. All dates and times are subject to availability.
How long are the sessions?
Professional development sessions are typically 60-90 minutes in length and are flexibly administered to accommodate busy schedules.
Who will be facilitating the professional development sessions and what are their qualifications?
Every session is facilitated by an expert educator who has extensive classroom teaching experience, is well-versed in college-readiness pedagogy, and is skilled with the MyAcademicApproach.com portal. To see bios of the School Programs team, click here.
Are sessions online or in-person?
All of our sessions can be delivered online or in-person.
Who do I contact to ask about professional development options?
Contact us for a complimentary consultation to learn how we can meet your needs. You can find our inquiry form here or email partnerships@aapproachstg.wpengine.com.