Building Teachers' Instructional Capacity

Dive into our engaging virtual professional development (VPD) micro-credentials that are tailored to deliver targeted strategies to empower administrators, school leaders, and teachers to enhance and turnaround schools. Accessible anytime, anywhere, our modules discuss best practices and provide opportunities to enhance your leadership abilities and drive positive change within your school community.  These micro-credentials are developed by the Texas A&M Educational Leadership Research Center (ELRC), with funding provided through a grant from Education Innovation and Research (EIR), the U.S. Department of Education.

Module 1: A Collaborative Approach Objectives

• Define teachers' instructional capacity.
• Understand the importance of building teachers' instructional capacity and consider the role of principals and school leaders in building teachers' instructional capacity.
• Explore various strategies school leaders can implement to build teachers' instructional capacity.  

Module 2: Focus on Instructional Capacity Building

• Understand the function of organizational structures in schools.
• Identify three types of organizational structures in schools that help build teachers' instructional capacity.
• Define a professional learning community (PLC).
• Identify ways in which principals, as instructional leaders, build and support teams of instructional experts and implement PLCs on their campuses.

Module 3: Establishing High Expectations for Students in Schools

• Understand the ways in which teacher expectations impact student performance.
• Explore how teacher expectations may lead to self-fulfilling prophecies for students.
• Examine how implicit bias may affect teacher expectations and student performance as a result.
• Identify the four dimensions by which teachers communicate their expectations to students.

This is a three-module micro-credential that awards a certificate worth three continuing professional development units/hours (CPUs) upon completion.