Professional Learning Communities

CPA is an official Professional Learning Community (PLC). PLC's undergo an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. PLC's operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators.

At CPA, excellence in the classroom begins with educators who never stop learning together. Through our Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), our faculty uses dedicated, structured collaboration time each week to evaluate student growth, refine instruction, and ensure every child receives the support and challenge they need.

The Four Core Questions Driving Our Faculty Collaboration:

What do we expect students to learn? (Curriculum) – Establishing clear, purposeful learning standards across every division.
How will we know when they have learned it? (Assessment) – Measuring genuine understanding through timely, actionable feedback.
How will we respond when a student struggles? (Intervention) – Providing individual, targeted support to help every student overcome hurdles.
How will we extend learning for students who master concepts quickly? (Extension) – Offering deeper opportunities to stretch their God-given gifts and curiosity.

How Does CPA Facilitate PS-12 Faculty Collaboration?

Common Formative Assessment

Lower school instructors are continuously working towards the goal of creating and analyzing results from common formative assessments in each grade level and subject area. Common formative assessments are team-designed, intentional measures used to monitor student mastery level of essential learning targets. Teachers participate in vertically-aligned instructional rounds to observe instruction and common formative assessments led by fellow teachers. Instructional rounds aim to deepen collective teacher efficacy in both instruction and assessment.

Shared Planning Periods

Teachers across each school and department have shared planning periods built into their weekly schedules. This is a time for teachers to discuss student results, share successful strategies, best practices, and ask questions. This collaboration enriches the student experience as teachers are continuously planning curriculum, assessing, intervening, or extending on their behalf.

Designated Weekly Faculty Collaboration Time

Faculty and staff in grades 6-12 are provided with one hour of weekly faculty-wide collaboration time, every Wednesday morning. This weekly time is valuable in that it addresses vertical integration throughout academic disciplines in middle and upper school. The Academy places value in teacher connection and the sharing of best practices, so students begin with a late start on Wednesday mornings.

Full-Time Educational Technology Integrationists in Every School

Trust-Based Relationship Intervention

Key faculty and staff in each school have been formally trained in Trust-Based Relational Intervention^® (TBRI), an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. Developed by the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development, the intervention is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research, however, the heartbeat of TBRI is connection.

TAIS Biennial Conference

Project Lead the Way

Faculty Mentor Program

Mentors make a proven difference in teacher retention. According to a federal study by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 92 percent of first-year teachers assigned a mentor returned to their classroom. Associate Head of School-Education Marcia Sutton and Director of Human Resources Andrea Emigh collaborated to build the CPA Mentor Program.

In June, new teachers are paired with a mentor and meet for orientation. Guidelines, procedures, and even classroom strategies are shared between mentor and mentee throughout the year. This has proven to increase the quality of on-boarding in all four schools across the Academy.