TORSH believes in the transformative power of education and the urgent need to ensure that our educational system is equitable, innovative, and effective. We are proud to partner with The Center for Transformative Teacher Training (CT3), a professional development organization for teachers and leaders which emphasizes anti-racism and equity in its work with K-12 schools. We spoke with Joy Treadwell, a Managing Associate with CT3, about the organization’s experiences throughout the pandemic and how TORSH Talent has allowed them to continue their coaching and professional development work amid the shift to virtual learning.
CT3’s mission is to transform the quality and culture of education for youth, especially those in traditionally disenfranchised communities. The organization’s transformative and sustainable professional development centers around their innovative and research-validated “No-Nonsense Nurturer” approach to classroom management. Alongside this training, the organization offers real-time teacher and leadership coaching, virtual leadership coaching, and in-depth anti-racist school culture training aimed at building culturally relevant classrooms. With all of their work, CT3 builds capacity with their partners to implement anti-racist practices and to dismantle the systemic structures that have historically impeded self-confidence and academic outcomes among historically disenfranchised youth. (For more information about CT3, please visit https://www.ct3education.com)
Using TORSH Talent for Leadership Coaching Simply Made Sense
Pre-pandemic, CT3 had already found success using TORSH Talent for video support. Once pandemic restrictions and regulations forced schools to transition to the virtual space, CT3 discovered the usefulness of the platform for their real-time leadership coaching work. TORSH provided the organization and its coaches with “eyes on the ground when we couldn’t actually be on the ground. What TORSH has allowed us to do is to keep our people in their homes, and they are still able to give quality feedback and do important work without exhausting themselves flying three red eyes in five days,” Treadwell explained.
Principals and school leaders who were engaged in CT3’s leadership coaching were open to the shift in delivery because “it seemed like the right pivot, at the right time, for the right reasons.” The organization’s main challenge during this shift was to ensure that they were providing the same level of quality and rigor of work in the virtual space. CT3 prides itself on giving really actionable feedback and coaching plans, and our Talent platform allowed associates to continue to provide high-quality support to their partners.
Looking forward, CT3 plans to continue with a hybrid engagement style that combines in-person touchpoints with intentionally designed virtual sessions using the TORSH Talent platform.
A Necessary Emphasis on Anti-Racism and Equity
Although anti-racism was already playing a large role in CT3’s work, the organization re-committed itself to increased anti-racist engagement and education with all of its partners in June 2020. “During this time, we truly have to put equity at the center of our work. We really have to make sure that this time, we are focused on all scholars.”
CT3 has been empowering schools to be bold, act in anti-racist ways, and eliminate some of the policies that led us to the current inequitable state of our educational system. Pandemic difficulties have really highlighted that there are some structures built within schools that were meant to withstand challenging times like these, and some that were not.
In order to really tackle structural problems, schools must hold a mirror up to themselves and their own practices. As the primary thought partner for school leaders, CT3 spends a lot of time talking with principals about habits they have built together, habits they still need to build, and habits they need to break. “Our goal at CT3 is to continue to push our schools not to go back to ‘normal,’ because ‘normal’ didn’t serve all of our kids. ‘Normal’ serves some kids, and this became very clear very quickly, especially in terms of access to technology and use of that technology.”
CT3 hopes that COVID-era conversations surrounding this concern on a macro-scale will provide schools with the momentum to rethink and reimagine the conversation around learning loss, ultimately pushing forward sustainable and meaningful anti-racist solutions.
