CLIENT:

St. Lucy’s School

RACINE, WI

The Challenge

After years of enhancing school culture and building trust with teachers, Principal Thostenson focused on elevating instruction quality. She noticed fragmented teaching and basic student tasks, causing parents to doubt the education quality.

Her aim: engaging, curriculum-aligned teaching that stimulates critical thinking, not mere worksheet completion. She recognized the need for instructional coaching but sought assistance through Fulcrum Education Solutions in refining the focus for effective teacher support.

The Solution

Fulcrum Education Solutions and Principal Thostenson articulated their goals for working together, they co- conducted observations of St. Lucy’s teachers, followed by discussions to debrief the observations. The debriefing conversations with Fulcrum helped Thostenson set observational goals that were outcome- focused and based on backward instructional design.

“It was hard for me to observe teachers and decide what to focus on when there were so many things that were not right,” she explains. Setting specific coaching goals with Fulcrum gave Principal Thostenson a coaching roadmap, with the broad goal of ensuring students are given engaging tasks aligned to curricular goals and that call on them to be critical thinkers and cooperative learners.