Chartwell Teaching Institute

My student looked at me and asked, Why have I never been taught to read this way before?

Teacher Training Institute Participant

The Chartwell Teaching Institute (CTI) at Chartwell School has long provided public, private and charter school teachers with science-based tools and strategies to explicitly and systematically navigate and educate students with specific learning disabilities, including dyslexia and ADHD. CTI expanded to respond to the growing need for teacher support and training as outlined in the California Dyslexia Guidelines (2016), and it has continuously increased its virtual and on-campus curricular offerings. Additionally, the development of a ground-breaking research partnership between Chartwell and the renowned UCSF Dyslexia Center offers CTI participants access to the latest brain research that informs and guides their classroom instruction.

CTI courses are distinct in that they adhere to a multi-disciplinary learning approach we call The Chartwell Way. In addition to integrating the elements of language using structured literacy (phonology, orthography, morphology, semantics, and syntax), our Master Teachers offer a whole-child instruction approach on how to differentiate teaching based on a student’s unique profile. Chartwell Master Teachers explain how visual processing, working memory, retrieval, executive function and social emotional development affect student outcomes in the classroom. The Chartwell Way addresses how various diagnoses are linked and works to grow and develop the whole child—not just their literacy skills.

Instruction at CTI models the methods that attendees will learn to use in the classrooms. It is systematic, diagnostic, explicit, prescriptive, and cumulative with the goal of achieving mastery. Under the guidance of Chartwell Master Teachers, our three-pronged teaching process—knowledge acquisition, hands-on application, and trainer feedback—includes an on-campus practicum that provides teachers hands-on, classroom experience with young readers struggling with dyslexia. Ongoing teacher support and coaching is also offered following the course.

Chartwell staff can also work with individual schools or districts to design and deliver specific course curriculum. Email Jodi Amaditz at jamaditz@chartwell.org for more information.