Principles of Practice

We work hard to meet the needs of teachers and school leaders within their own context. As you strive to meet ever-changing standards, we’re striving to bridge gaps between theory, research, policy and practice. As we design professional development projects, we’re constantly examining how our promising practices can be solidified even as we support schools to manage evolving mandates. Through this examination, we’ve come to identify six principles of practice, also known as the 6Cs: cycles of inquiry, communities of practice, contextualized practice, cultivating strengths, culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy, and critical reflection.

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
A collaborative approach to discourse and decision-making that cultivates relationships, honors individual perspectives, and works together for a common goal.

CONTEXTUALIZED PRACTICE
While there are many patterns and trends in education, each partner, project and person is unique. We believe in designing each project to the culture, context and concrete goals.

CRITICAL REFLECTION
Meta-cognition, self-awareness, and considering multiple viewpoints are all features of critical reflection resulting in reflective action. We learn from our successes and our missteps so that we can be constantly improving our practice.

CULTIVATING STRENGTHS
Grounded in the Growth Mindset, we believe that improvement in growth areas increases when we leverage areas of strength first.

CULTURALLY RELEVANT & SUSTAINING PEDAGOGY
We acknowledge and affirm that everyone’s culture and identity are valid and valuable and that educators who cultivate culturally relevant, responsive and sustaining spaces for learning will increase student academic, intellectual, social and emotional growth.

CYCLES OF INQUIRY
As educators, we must maintain a commitment to the inquiry process in which we identify challenges, pose questions, implement interventions, and monitor for improvements. It is this quest for understanding that fosters a learning community and helps us to evolve to meet the changing needs of our partners.