Overview

In 2022, Hedges Elementary School sought to gain support in the design and implementation of an effective school improvement process. Additionally, Hedges wanted to provide their leadership team with professional coaching. Hedges partnered with Catalyst for Educational Change (CEC) to achieve these goals. During their work with Hedges, CEC focused on developing strong Professional Learning Communities (PLC). Through this work, CEC assisted the Hedges’ staff in identifying a critical component of professional learning and development: Building a strong mindset in students. CEC and Hedges concluded that to instill confidence within students, the teachers needed to gain expertise within their field.

Client: Chicago Public School District: Hedges Elementary School
Impact Area: School Improvement
Related Services: Professional Learning Communities

Implementation & Conclusion

With this objective in mind, CEC and Hedges formulated a plan that prioritized ensuring teachers are challenging students to higher academic levels. To do this, CEC conducted a five-week workshop to educate the leaders on successful professional learning and development. CEC also provided Hedges with formal and informal training through ongoing group and individual coaching. Finally, CEC helped Hedges set future goals to set a high teaching standard. These goals are as follows:

• Understanding the full standard
• Knowing what types of learning targets are part of the standard
• Developing clear, consistent descriptors of proficiency for each target
• Developing high impact, research-based teaching strategies to teach each standard