The Instructional Leadership and Classroom Supervision Certificate program aligns classroom application with core knowledge and educational pedagogy and addresses the question, "How do Teacher Education programs align the needs and talents of cooperating teachers with the goals of traditional university teacher education to provide a strong practicum or induction experience for beginning teachers?" The in-persons workshops focus on creating an open line of communication between Cooperating Teachers and University Professors in relation to four main areas of concern.

1. What are best practices for the Classroom Supervision of new teachers?
2. How can veteran teachers, either informally or formally, support beginning teacher growth and development?
3. How can this be structured to avoid duplication and play to the strengths of each professional?
4. What behaviors are inherent in Instructional Leadership that can be generalized across populations of urban school teachers that contribute to a quality education for our K-12 students?

The Instructional Leadership and Classroom Supervision Certificate program examines "hot-topics" within the field of education from developmental, knowledge-based and interactional perspectives. Topics for the seven seminars include:

• Developmentally-appropriate practice in urban classrooms
• Critical literacy strategies and interventions
• Pluralistic classroom instruction and pedagogical practices
• Bi-lingual, Bi-cultural and Bi-literate instructional strategies
• Pre-referral strategies for struggling learners and students with special needs
• Content knowledge and content pedagogy
• Meaningful supervision and mentorship with beginning teachers
• Innovative supervision in a standards-based system
• Lesson presentations to enhance current strategies and vary learning opportunities for a wide range of learners
• Observation and feedback to prepare for work as content coordinators, BTSA support providers or instructional leaders

Inquiry into best practices in the field, contemporary research topic areas, and cutting edge teaching strategies set this program apart from others in the education and Professional Development genre.