About Our Team
We have 75+ facilitators/coaches, of which 11-25% are non-white.
Service Overview
Savvas professional learning (PL) support for our curricular programs spans a continuum that includes launch/foundational trainings to deeper dive program-specific workshops, job embedded assistance, and capacity building strategies and structures to support ongoing, continuous improvement. We ground our PL in the theory and practices of andragogy. With a strong emphasis on self-directed learning, we center adult learners in all PL experiences and resources. Our approach tracks the instructional approach taken in our programs: learners actively construct knowledge by making connections between the known and the new, by collaborating, conversing, strategically using resources, and by continuously reflecting and receiving feedback.
Building District Capacity
We strategically use district capacity-building structures, including PLCs, to improve key teaching and learning practices. We:
- Collaborate with district leadership to facilitate planning and develop a fleshed out professional learning plan that back maps professional learning experiences in service of clearly articulated student learning outcomes,
- Develop teacher leaders along with content area district/school coaches,
- Employ targeted job embedded support structures to support continuous improvement while leveraging teacher leaders and district/school coaches,
- Engage leaders in Focus Visits that enhance instructional leadership and result in descriptive, student-focused feedback for teachers, and/or
- Facilitate regular progress monitoring with district leaders.
Addressing Equity
Savvas programs are created using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines. Application of the guidelines from the start to inform the design of the programs supports accessibility for diverse learners. Our PL, in turn, grounds teachers in these UDL principles. Access in lessons for diverse learners is based on teacher assessment of how an individual student performs-aligning content, language and strategy with what the student does in real time. Our programs and associated PL value individual background and lived experience, understanding the essential role these play in learning as assets to be affirmed and leveraged in successful, student-centered learning environments.
