The Iowa Department of Education has announced an upcoming professional development opportunity for early childhood educators. The SmartTeach GOLD training series will engage statewide preschool programs on the GOLD assessment system and how to best optimize its use for learner development. 

The SmartTeach GOLD training features three different learning strands for veteran teachers with experience using the SmartTeach GOLD assessment. (**This course is not intended for teachers NEW to GOLD. If new to GOLD, please see course: Fundamentals of Assessment with a GOLD Focus). Teachers in a classroom receiving state funding through the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program, special education and Shared Visions are highly encouraged to participate. 

Through SmartTeach GOLD, preschool teachers will learn how to increase proficiency and accuracy of assessment data resulting in improved reliability and validity. Participants will also be able to gain knowledge that assists with becoming interrater reliability-certified.

All SmartTeach Gold trainings will be held virtually over several months. Interested participants can join an interactive cohort in one of the three strands. Participants must be able to attend all training dates assigned to their cohort.

Cohort 5, Monday Sessions

Cohort 6, Wednesday Sessions

Cohort 7, Friday Sessions