Dive Brief:

• Hobsons has partnered with analytics experts at Gallup to produce professional development courses intended to help teachers develop their particular aptitudes and help students do the same.
• The program is based in part on a Gallup assessment used in other industries, which is intended to help adults pinpoint their skillsets.
• It will offer a combination of online courses and assessments alongside in-person training.

Dive Insight:

Districts and charter networks have put considerable effort into identifying what makes a good teacher. Each has developed its own list of traits, attitudes, and behaviors that define success in the classroom, but teaching remains an interpersonal activity that requires educators to find their own personal approaches to classroom management and instruction.

Gallup and Hobsons’ program is intended to support that end of the process. “Teachers are more engaged and better equipped to help students succeed when they use their strengths in the classroom every day,” Stephen M. Smith, president of advising and admissions solutions at Hobsons, told eSchool News. It also dovetails with an increasingly personalized approach to student instruction. Students will take aptitude tests alongside their teachers and work to develop their own skills.