Mark Atkinson

TeachForward delivers a cloud-based solution that enables educators to analyze instructional practice in video and other artifacts to inform the dialogue about good teaching--whether aligning expectations of what good teaching and learning looks like, coaching and mentoring educators, or certifying educators for licensure. Examples of some of TeachForward's use cases include: - In Illinois, the Illinois Virtual and Building Mentor Program uses TeachForward Engage to provide a knowledge base and coaching support to first and second year teachers to increase high quality instruction and teacher retention. - In Massachusetts, school districts and educator preparation programs use TeachForward to provide calibration training through consensus building and discussion about what good teaching looks like by viewing videos and other artifacts, tagging and giving rationale based on state standards, and honing the reflection and feedback conversations. Other districts and higher education institutions focus on both consensus-building calibration and formal calibration prior to evaluation. - TeachForward has a partnership with College of Southern Idaho in providing the platform for their comprehensive Non-Traditional Educator Preparation program to address teacher shortage and retention challenges in Idaho with a focus on rural areas and specific demographics. TeachForward provides instructional content (teaching and learning best practices, activities, videos), a coaching platform to provide support and reflection/ feedback, and performance assessments aligned to state and INTASC standards. -Building upon a comprehensive performance assessment created by a team of national experts, TeachForward worked the Ohio DOE to implement Ohio's Resident Educator Summative Assessment (RESA) for the second tier of Ohio's multi-tiered licensing system. Multiple measures of effectiveness are used including performance tasks submitted by the teacher in a digital portfolio.