Guest Expert Program | Seated & Virtual | Paid

GOCSD’s Beginning Teacher Assistance Program provides high quality learning and collaboration aligned with DESE’s teaching standards and indicators and BTAP requirements. Completion of this program meets Section 168-400, RSMo Supp.2015 and section 168.021.1 as a requirement of certification.

Our hybrid learning series consists of five sessions:

• Two seated sessions, one at the beginning of each semester

• Two virtual sessions, one each semester

• One on-demand session

There will be multiple dates for the seated and virtual sessions to accommodate the teachers’ schedules.

If Districts have a new hire after the program has started for the current school year, they can still register this teacher to begin participating in the program at its current point. The teacher will then make-up the missed session(s) by participating in those the following school year. This will allow them to be program completers and receive the official documents needed for their next steps in certification.

Use the button below to let us know that your District plans to participate in our BTAP program and what dates work for you. We will use the data from this form to set the logistics for the program and then send you the complete program details with a form to register each of your new teachers.

Build the capacity of your beginning teachers through a year-long professional networking opportunity. When teachers and schools engage in high-quality collaboration, it leads to better achievement gains in math and reading for students. In addition, teachers improve at greater rates when they work in schools with better collaboration quality (Ronfeldt et al., 2015). Through GOCSD’s BTAP teachers will have opportunities to experience high quality collaboration aligned with DESE’s teaching standards and indicators as well as effective teaching practices.

During the sessions, teachers will be presented with best practices for classroom management, structure, time, space, and transitions. Teachers will receive facilitator led opportunities for dialogue regarding real-time issues in their classroom in order to problem solve and learn from one another.

Embedded in the year-long training will be student engagement practices to increase effective instruction and student learning. Additionally, teachers will explore methods to incorporate more highly effective lesson plans in order to increase student achievement.

All of this content will be presented in two seated sessions, one at the beginning of the year and one at the beginning of the second semester, as well as virtual learning sessions in the fall and another in the spring. Additionally, there will be an on-demand session to address school-law topics relevant for beginning teachers. There will be multiple session dates allowing teacher choice according to their schedules.

The sessions for this course are designed to meet as many districts’ needs as possible in limiting or eliminating the use of substitute teachers.

Don’t miss this professional learning opportunity providing on-going support for your first year teachers.

We use the Learning Forward Standards for Professional Learning when designing our experiences to ensure that we provide professional learning that leads to high-quality leading, teaching, and learning for students and educators. Explore other professional learning events and content in our on-demand catalog.