We love working with our district partners to help grow their Professional Development capacity! We believe that training that comes from a local in-district trainer is almost always the best way to approach staff professional development. Local leaders have a much better idea of specific needs and contexts, are readily available for continued support regarding ongoing staff needs and are most likely to already have a great rapport with training participants.

Cultivate's Train the Trainer relationships are flexible based on the needs of each region, district or school. Each arrangement includes an initial meeting with Cultivate to guide the creation of a scope & sequence and establish the logistics for the year. All District/School Trainers are able to login and access MicroPDs, slide decks, agendas and supporting documents as needed. 

Some examples of how Train the Trainer have looked are:

• Light Touch: Trainers have direct access to the Cultivate team for technical assistance and evaluation data. Cultivate is on-call to help or support their work when needed. 
• High Support: Cultivate co-leads the first few sessions to lay the foundation for our approach training and demonstrate how we use our materials. After the session, Trainers and Cultivate debrief, review evaluation data and plan for the next session. When they are ready, trainers take over and Cultivate team remains available for technical assistance and evaluation for the remainder of the school year.

Some schools and districts do not have the capacity to run ongoing Professional Development for school staff or perhaps an outside host is preferable. If this is the case, Cultivate will coordinate with your school leadership to create a schedule to host Virtual or In-Person Professional Learning Communities.

During PLCs, participants meet together for initial learning and then split into breakout groups led by Cultivate facilitators for more in-depth discussions. Discussions focus on deeper learning and application of the skills as well as provide support and connection between the professionals. 

Our partners have chosen to structure Virtual PLCs in a variety of ways to meet their unique needs. A few examples are:

• District-Wide PLCs (Monthly)

• School Specific PLCs (Bi-Weekly)

• 1st & 2nd Years Educational Assistants PLCs (Bi-Weekly)

• Experienced Educational Assistants PLC (Monthly)

• Foundations of Special Education Focused PLC (Monthly)

• Foundations of a Trauma & Healing Informed School PLC (Monthly)

Cultivate can also work with your district to customize an asynchronous course for your school staff to use in order to maximize on flexibility. Asynchronous MicroPDs incorporate formative assessment questions throughout each module. The Cultivate system tracks progress so participants can flexibly engage in learning that fits their schedule and needs.