Professional Development
Today’s K-12 schools have tremendous volumes of data to use in making decisions. Too many districts find themselves without proper resources to prioritize and ensure that the right data is informing decision-making - from the board of education to the individual classrooms. These same principles apply to non-academic professional organizations.
We work with organizations, and district and school leadership teams to identify meaningful and manageable ways to establish and measure progress toward your goals. We use the latest and most salient educational research to help schools, districts and organizations make critical and relevant decisions. These allow your community to meet the unique needs of the students and stakeholders you serve.
Read below for details on K-12 and Postsecondary professional development
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Professional Development PreK-12
We provide professional development aligned to your school and district’s initiatives.
Educational needs today look very different than in years, decades, and even months past. The old adages still apply. Stakeholders are asked to do more and more with increasingly less.
Student achievement, and cultivating well-adjusted and socially skilled, empathetic, intelligent and responsible citizens are still our primary objectives. And we continue to harness the resources, materials and practices available to achieve these objectives.
Yet we have new battles afoot, that must be navigated. School boards are being hijacked by extremist factions seeking to exert influence over what students learn and how they learn it. Teachers, administrators and most importantly, students and the communities served are caught in the crosshairs. Amidst all of this, we are struggling to hold onto and cultivate new teachers.
This is the modern era of PreK-12 education.
Over the course of our professional careers, each of the coaches at Dissertation to Defense has worked closely with PreK-12 and higher education institutions in a variety of disciplines. We have partnered with schools and districts to identify practical, curricular, systemic, and pedagogical needs. To professionally evaluate and establish methods for addressing their unique demands.
After careful evaluation, we collaborate to design flexible models that are that are solutions-oriented, student and value-centric, inclusive and responsive to the needs of your school and staff. Our work includes but is not limited to workshops and (long/short term) models:
Data research: Analyzing student, school and district performance data
Curriculum and instruction
Diversity, equity and inclusion
Modern educational leadership (executive and instructional coaching)
Social foundations: In-service for PreK-12 educators
Critical conversations in K-12 classrooms
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Dissertation Committee Membership Micro-credentialing & Institutional Support
How to mentor graduate candidates
• Good mentoring and advising basics
• Effective committee and committee/student communication
• Policies, procedures team/student dynamics
• Knowing the role: Duties of the chair, methodologist, reader
• Staying in your lane
• Navigating and balancing time to support graduate students
Guiding the candidate through the process
• What constitutes a good paper/scholarly writing
• Shaping focus
• Filling in the gaps: When your student needs a dissertation coach
• The prospectus
• Good study design
• Literature review
• Setting realistic timelines
• Knowing when the student is ready
• Reading for content
• Providing in depth, substantive feedback
• The Institutional Review Board process
• CITI Training
• The final defense
• Data collection, analysis, discussion and presentation of work
Qualitative and quantitative methodology principles for guidance
• Developing the skills for leading good qualitative and statistical inquiry
For veteran committee members
• Innovative theoretical updates
• Refreshers in reading for content
• Guidance versus instructions
• Substantive feedback
• New software resources
• Techniques for time constraints
• Filling in the gaps: When your student needs a dissertation coach
