As an NSRF Center of Activity, ACSR staff are trained Critical Friends Group Coaches. This means that we are certified to support teachers and administrators in improving their practice through ongoing reflection and collaboration. We are connected to a powerful network of facilitators and can support a wide variety of change initiatives and improvement goals. Let us magnify the power of your current staff development or school improvement efforts. Our coaches can help your faculty experience the power of Critical Friendship right now.

Professional Learning Communities/Critical Friends Group Coaches Training

The creation of learning communities is complex work, requiring a commitment by administrators, teachers, and coaches. It also requires high- quality preparation and sustained support. An NSRF Beginning Coaches Training teaches new coaches the skills and habits that enable them to:

Ask questions that challenge assumptions;
Examine student work as a way to improve practice;
Create collaborative cultures in their schools;
Create and sustain effective professional learning communities

Our five-day Beginning Coaches Training offers an opportunity to not only learn the fundamentals of PLC/CFG coaching by experiencing them firsthand, but also to connect with a network of like-minded professionals engaged in similar work across the region.

Support for Experienced Coaches

Just as the best teachers are always learning, experienced coaches need to connect with their peers in order to grow and facilitators. Whether coaching a CFG actively or simply applying CFG training in your day-to-day work, ACSR offers informal gatherings and formal experienced coaches seminars designed to offer opportunities to reflect, celebrate, and collaborate on the unique challenges connected to our practice. Guided by NSRF National Facilitators, participants make public their CFG practice, gaining new skills and insights into their work.

Facilitative Leadership: Coaching for School Leaders

School leadership, whether as principal, department chair, or teacher leader, requires special skills and insights. ACSR staff can not only facilitate special CFGs for school leaders, but also ongoing support for school leaders endeavoring to become facilitative leaders. NSRF Coaches Training for School Leaders Guided by NSRF National Facilitators, this week-long intensive course will not only train participants to be Critical Friends Group (CFG) Coaches, but also offer an emphasis on how to be a leader in a school that consciously uses this model of professional development as the primary mechanism for professional growth, communication, and accountability. Special attention is given to use of NSRF protocols in observations of staff, giving and receiving feedback, examination of curricula, student work and assessment.

Last Updated: 11/10/08

Professional Learning Communities/Critical Friends Group Training and Coaching

Professional Learning Communities/Critical Friends Group Coaching

Professional Learning Communities/Critical Friends Group Coaches Training

Support for Experienced Coaches

Facilitative Leadership: Coaching for School Leaders

Professional Learning Communities/
Critical Friends Group Training and Coaching