Differentiating PD for special education teachers in Watervliet, NY

Key results

•  100% of educators say they made progress in their chosen growth area.
• 75% of educators say they grew considerably in student-centered literacy.

Watervliet City School District serves about 1,300 students in a small urban community just north of Albany, New York. 

When it became clear to the district that general education professional development wasn’t meeting their special education teachers’ specific needs, they sought a more differentiated approach.

The challenge: generalized professional development wasn’t actionable for special education teachers

The district’s special education teachers had communicated that general education professional development felt disconnected from their daily classroom realities. It simply wasn’t specifically applicable or actionable enough for them.

To support their special education teachers, leaders focused on four key areas:

Develop and implement personalized professional development for all special education teachers, meeting each educator where they are in their own learning journey and addressing their specific challenges.

Support diverse teaching models including educators who co-teach as well as those providing pull-out or 1:1 support.

Strengthen special education educator retention 

Build a culture of continuous growth in special education to support leadership development within the Watervliet City School District.

The solution: instructional coaching differentiated for special education teachers

Teachers engaged in a full year of biweekly, one-to-one, job-embedded virtual coaching with BetterLesson’s expert educators. Coaches personalized their support to address each teacher’s most pressing challenges and help them make observable, measurable advances in their practice.

Coaching sessions focused on:

• Implementing high-leverage, research-based instructional strategies
• Engaging in reflective cycles to ensure strategies optimize engagement and achievement
• Leveraging qualitative and quantitative teacher and student growth metrics to measure success

BetterLesson Lab connects coaches and educators through an online platform where they document their vision and milestones, share classroom artifacts, and access to thousands of instructional strategies and lesson plans created by experienced educators.

Try-Measure-Learn methodology helps educators identify their challenges, make a plan to try new strategies, and then reflect on results. This collaborative, learn-by-doing approach models what learner-centered instruction looks like in practice.

Sample teaching strategies implemented with their coaches’ help:

Building student resilience

• Self-Regulation Strategies
• Class Meeting or Morning Meeting
• Circle Up: Community Conversations
• Collaborative Conversations for Behaviorally Challenging Students
• Implementing a Positive Reinforcement Economy

Formative assessment & differentiation

• Goal Setting and Reflection
• Designing Group Stations for Station Rotation Model
• Analyzing Student Data to Inform Instruction
• Student Conferences with Teacher
• Choice Boards for Student Agency

Student-centered literacy

• Practicing and Self-Evaluating Reading Fluency
• Interactive, Visual, or Language Chunk Word Wall
• Final Word or Save the Last Word
• Literature Circles and Book Clubs
• Examining Exemplars and Using Mentor Texts

The outcome: sustained instructional growth and classroom impact

Fifteen special education teachers completed 159 coaching sessions and tried 32 new strategies in their classrooms. 

100% of educators say they made progress in their chosen growth area.

75% of educators say they grew considerably in student-centered literacy.

Instructional practice and teacher capacity grew. These educators acquired and enhanced core competencies that they continue to refine and build upon. Their growth mindset strengthened, and they expanded their capacity to be student-centered teachers and leaders within their school community.

Student engagement changed. Teachers observed that students were engaging with the Choice Boards and seem to be enjoying having the freedom to work on what they want to do first. They noted that the structure felt beneficial, and allowed them to spend time providing targeted support to smaller groups of students.