Certificate in Strengths-Based Education (CSBE)

A Certificate in Strengths-Based Education is Clifton Strengths School’s most comprehensive professional development program. It consists of four online courses and can be completed in four months. It is designed to give educators a comprehensive understanding of the building blocks of a strengths-based education and provide direction for implementing a strengths initiative.

Course 1 Mon Oct 4 - Fri Oct 29

Course 2 Mon Nov 1 - Fri Dec 3

Course 3 Mon Jan 10 - Fri Feb 4

Course 4 Mon Feb 14 - Fri March 11

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Course 1: Principles of Strengths-Based Education (3 credits)
Great teachers understand that individuals learn best when they leverage their own unique talents to impact positive performance. This course will help educators develop and demonstrate an understanding of the psychology and change principles that enhance an individual’s capacity for extraordinary performance. Together, we will explore their unique and recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior, and how these contribute to their teaching style, philosophy, and approach to student development. These insights will serve as a gateway to recognizing strengths in others. Each person will develop solutions to everyday education problems and work toward innovations that maximize talent and create the greatest potential for individual achievement. Educators will explore proven approaches to integrating strengths-based development in a variety of environments and critique the efficacy of the programs.

Course 2: Hope, Engagement, & Wellbeing of America’s Students (3 credits)
Gallup measures the hope, engagement, and wellbeing of America’s students, from elementary school through college, to give students a voice. We have learned that about half of students are hopeful, half are engaged, and two-thirds have high levels of wellbeing. Educators will learn how hope drives student attendance, GPA, and retention. They will also discover how engagement relates to performance on high-stakes tests, how wellbeing is a factor of rather than a product of success, and how strengths development relates to Gallup Student Poll findings. Theories that undergird hope, engagement, and wellbeing will be reviewed and implications of the poll results will be discussed in the context of best practices on campuses. Educators will be asked to create their own school-specific efforts to drive change in poll numbers.

Course 3: Strengths Advising, Coaching, & Careers (3 credits)
Educators understand that applying what they learned is a key component in meaningful education. This course will help educators focus on advising students by creating student action plans while integrating strengths philosophy into their curriculum. As an educator, how can you leverage your own talents to bring out and build upon the talents of your students or staff? In this course, educators will dive deeper into understanding a person’s 34 themes of talent and the best practices for taking an individual through strengths discovery and development.

Course 4: Strengths Analysis, Application, & Impact Planning (3 credits)
This course will help educators analyze, integrate, and synthesize the theory and practice they have learned into this culminating experience. Each educator will accumulate and report 100 strengths feedback sessions with students and parents. Educators will share the results of their learning accomplishments with their peers and apply those same results to their respective disciplines. The practicum involves an analysis and presentation of assumptions, actions taken, results witnessed, outcomes achieved, and metrics affected throughout the sequence.

Coaching
In addition to studying with world-class faculty, each participant in the certificate program will work with his or her own person strengths coaching throughout the program. The program includes 4 one-hour coaching sessions and additional sessions are available for an additional fee. One-hour coaching sessions are available for $100 each or four sessions for $300.

Annual Recertification
Graduates with a Certificate in Strengths-Based Education will be expected to participate in an annual online recertification program in which the latest strengths research will be shared and participants will be able to contribute to the ongoing study of strengths by sharing their data and metrics with Clifton Strengths School. More details will be available during the registration process.