Idaho State University to offer comprehensive teacher training to 450 K-12 educators June 4-8 in Pocatello

More than 450 educators from Southeast Idaho's 52 school districts will converge at Idaho State University June 4-8 to learn a proven, comprehensive teacher-training model that improves student achievement.

Idaho State University College of Education and Dell are teaming up to offer Total Instructional Alignment Conference at the ISU Pond Student Union. Dell will provide computer technology and support for educators from 52 schools districts in Southeast Idaho.

"The Idaho Total Instructional Alignment is a grass-roots, teacher-driven process to design and develop a method by which the Common Core State Standards can be integrated into classroom instruction," said Chuck Zimmerly, interim director of the College of Education’s Intermountain Center for Educational Effectiveness. "It is essential to begin the integration of the CCSS into classroom teaching this fall, with the new Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium's new ISAT replacement test due to be implemented in 2014."

Teams of educators at the conference will learn and implement the TIA teaching model, which aligns standards with curriculum, curriculum with instruction, and then assesses how effectively the standards have been met. The TIA model incorporates the national Common Core State Standards and will assist teachers in meeting these standards when they are implemented into K-12 classrooms this fall.

"Meeting the Common Core State Standards is a big deal," said Susan Jenkins, director of the TIA project and College of Education assistant dean. "The time is now for learning to meet these standards and our work with Idaho teachers is critical. The ISU College of Education is in the lead pack nationally on helping educators learn TIA so they can meet these new national standards."

Classrooms, schools and districts that have implemented the TIA program have shown a measurable improvement in their Annual Yearly Progress Reports as mandated by the state under the No Child Left Behind Act, Jenkins said.

 Dell is loaning ISU about $100,000 in technical assistance for the event, providing about 100 laptop computers with wireless cards and basic projectors to each team of educators.

"We're thrilled that Dell is joining us in efforts to expand the program’s use," Jenkins said.

The teams of teachers, which are organized by content area and grade level, will use software and the technology to develop "Total Instructional Alignment" instructional documents that they will use as roadmaps for their class instruction and assessment for the upcoming academic year. These documents have become a pivotal instructional tool for participating districts and are routinely used in professional development workshops and classrooms.

The Idaho State University College of Education is organizing and teaching TIA conferences throughout the state this summer, with one running June 18-22 at ISU-Meridian and one July 9-13 at Moscow.

For more information on the Total Instructional Alignment program, visit http://ed.isu.edu/depts/tia/index.shtml.

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