Once certified, program participants will join an exclusive community of instructional coaches, have access to professional development events and be featured on the Google for Education Directory, Balso writes.
“Coaching is one of the most effective forms of professional development and helps teachers regularly implement new instructional practices,” Balso writes. “Our three-year coaching pilot showed that in addition to reducing teacher stress, coaching increases teacher satisfaction and helps teachers be more effective.”
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Here’s a checklist of how you can become a Google for Education Certified Coach:
- Obtain Google for Education’s Educator Level 1 and Level 2 Certifications. With these certifications, teachers can demonstrate their expertise in using Google tools in their classroom.
- Complete all modules in the Certified Coach curriculum. This tailored program is available online and takes approximately 20 hours to complete throughout a school year.
- Pass the Coach Skills Assessment. Score an 80 percent or higher on this final assessment, which tests your mastery of the coach curriculum.
- Prepare a coaching portfolio. Create a short video describing how you used the five-step coaching model when working with a teacher at your school and get a letter of reference from an administrator. You’ll also need to prepare three coaching artifacts that show how you’ve built relationships with teachers, measured impact and shared that impact with your community.
- Submit your completed portfolio and application. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and it can take between four to six weeks from your initial submission to get notified about your application status.
