Kara L. Vandas
Kara Vandas works with districts and schools around the country, both elementary and secondary, to implement processes and practices that best support student learning. Kara brings experience in these areas from her previous work as the Director of Teacher Effectiveness for the Colorado League of Charter Schools, where she was responsible for partnering with over 30 public charter schools around the state of Colorado in the implementation of Data Teams and Rigorous Curriculum Design. In doing so, Kara has had the opportunity to support rural, urban, and suburban schools of various instructional models and student populations, and across K-12 systems, in order to best implement these powerful practices. Kara remains passionate about supporting all students in becoming successful learners and views her work as a Visible Learningplus consultant as an opportunity to reach students around the country through working with teachers and administrators in implementing proven and powerful practices.
- Visible Learning
- Standards
- Assessment
- Evaluation
- Data (Adult and Student)
- Collaboration
- Impact Teams
- CFA 2.0
- Visible Learning
- Jim Knight
Workshops
- Common Formative Assessments 2.0: The Common Formative Assessments 2.0 series of services provide educators with the skills to collaboratively create, with a grade-level or course-level team, unit-based assessments for learning to assess student understanding of the particular learning intentions (standards for outcomes) and success criteria currently in focus within a curricular unit of study.
- Instructional Coaching: Take a partnering approach to professional learning, allowing for coach and teacher collaboration in choosing and implementing the most effective, research-based instructional strategies. The unwavering focus on creating better communication by respecting the professionalism and autonomy of teachers sets this coaching program apart from the rest. Through collaboration, observation, and evaluation, coaches and teachers work together to create better communication—and better instruction—leading to a change that is meaningful and sustainable.
- High-Impact Instruction: These workshops reveal proven teaching practices that have the greatest effect on student learning, and show that small changes can make a big impact on moving towards better instruction in every classroom, every day. Teaching requires simle, adaptive solutions, and the flexibility to adjust to the complexities involved. Participants will develop an in-depth understanding of The Big Four high-yield teaching strategies and walk away ready to implement each one.
- The Visible Learningplus Collaborative Impact Program: Supports systems in creating the conditions to bring about ongoing and sustainable improvement in achievement for all students. The customized program aligns system leaders, school leaders, and teachers with a proven process to build capacity for change over 3-5 impact cycles.
- The Visible Learningplus Foundation Series: Begin your Visible Learning journey by building foundational knowledge of the Visible Learning research. Teachers and schools will be introduced to tools for gathering evidence in their schools and classrooms and to create a plan for making learning visible for all students.
- The Visible Learningplus The Inside Series: Once school teams have developed an action plan through the Foundation Series, educators can dive deeper into various strands of Visible Learningplus with the Inside Series. In these individual seminars, you can focus on the areas of greatest need for your school based on your implementation plan.
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Partnering With Students Workshop: This 2-day workshop is a comprehensive solutions approach designed to empower teachers and students to share in the ownership of learning, significantly improving student engagement, confidence, and learning achievement. Teachers, school leaders, and students collaboratively develop a plan of action for successful student learning and goal realization.
What People are Saying...
"Kara was very prepared and met all objectives by the end of training. Our teachers have already started to work with Learner Dispositions in their Data Teams and school wide! We are very pleased with our PD from Kara and loved how she facilitated training."
-David Hernandez, Federal/State Facilitator, Montebello Unified School District, CA
“Kara continues to model flexibility in responsiveness to meeting our unique timing and implementation guidelines. Her ability to form relationships, incite reflection, and engage teams in professional learning has led to increased collective efficacy and student learning”
-Dr. Terrance Mootz, Associate Superintendent, J. Sterling Morton High School District, Cicero, IL