TORSH, Inc., a leading educational technology provider, has recently announced a new strategic partnership with Teaching Lab, a nonprofit that is changing the teacher professional development paradigm. These organizations will improve student learning outcomes through collaboration by encouraging shared learning and continuous improvement within the Teaching Lab and with potential partners.
Teaching Lab aims to increase student achievement by building support systems for high-quality teaching practices through hybrid and virtual coaching and educator training, each designed carefully to craft teacher-led learning communities. Through the innovative TORSH Talent platform, coaches will support partner school districts across the country in observing teaching practices for improvement, mentoring aspiring teacher leaders, and facilitating cross-district collaborations for shared learning.
TORSH Talent is a secure web-based solution with a mobile application designed to seamlessly support the implementation of professional learning elements shown in research to improve student outcomes. TORSH Talent provides the Teaching Lab with a robust toolkit for driving its mission forward. It includes time-stamped feedback on coaching videos, in-platform video conferencing, goal setting and tracking, discussion forums, and a resource and exemplar library.
Commenting on the collaboration, Courtney Williams, Founder and CEO of TORSH, stated:
TORSH looks forward to partnering with Teaching Lab in this vital effort to improve teaching practices for the benefit of all students.
TORSH, with its expertise and background in professional learning and coaching, is an ideal partner to assist Teaching Lab in ensuring the success of these educator-support systems. Headquartered in New Orleans, the company is dedicated to improving childhood outcomes by increasing educator instructional effectiveness. TORSH Talent, an online coaching and professional learning platform, enables organizations to support educator growth through the development cycle of observation, assessment, goal setting, feedback, and coaching.
Dr. Sarah Johnson, CEO of Teaching Lab, added:
Using TORSH Talent across our organization and partners, Teaching Lab will merge the best research on teacher coaching with modern tools for collaborating, innovating, and improving teaching practices.
The collaborative effort will develop a model for future district and school partners to successfully implement teacher-led continuous improvement through virtual and hybrid coaching and training.
Teaching Lab aims to shift the paradigm of teacher-professional learning for educational equity fundamentally. It envisions a teaching profession where educators own and drive a culture of learning and continuous improvement in their instructional practice, dramatically improving equitable student outcomes. The platform’s approach is based on rigorous research, which we summarize as “Head, Heart, and Habits”, with educational equity as the end goal.
