District Level Training

Following is our recommended format for providing district level training on Boys & Girls Learn Differently. This comprehensive training covers age levels from Pre-K through grade 12 and is appropriate for coed and single-sex environments.

Michael Gurian, founder and CEO of the Gurian Institute, presents a community keynote event to introduce the district-wide initiative to address how boys and girls learn differently and how addressing those differences can improve achievement, decrease disciplinary referrals, close gender gaps and improve overall district success in meeting performance standards.

The Gurian Institute provides training at the district leadership level, designed to target principals, assistant principals, curriculum coordinators, academic coaches and those in similar leadership position. This is also a good time to include district level personnel who work closely with building administrators. These sessions are designed to be from three to five hours long and develop awareness and basic understanding of the scientific foundation for how boys and girls learn, how to observe strategic implementation of professional development delivered to teachers, and strategies for taking the information back to individual schools. The sessions are experiential, allowing leadership to experience some of what their faculty and staff will be participating in during their professional development. These sessions are a logical first step in a district-wide training format.

Individuals chosen by the school district to become in-house trainers for Boys & Girls Learn Differently curriculum attend a three to four day Intensive Training session which prepares them to provide training to schools in the district. This session will be designed with input from district leadership and will focus on the demographics and specific needs of the individual district. Designated as Site Trainers, they will be trained as age-level specialists and generalists. Site Trainers will receive all materials needed to facilitate the training as part of their district training responsibilities. Participants who complete this training will be designated as “Certified Site Trainers” school district, eligible to deliver training to any school or organization within the district. They will not be certified to train outside the district.

As part of these sessions, Site Trainers receive all materials needed to facilitate the training as part of their district training responsibilities. This includes:

Trainer Manual (including curriculum for age-level sessions)
Participant manual: Elementary Level
Participant manual: Secondary Level
2-Training DVDs
PowerPoint presentations
CD containing reproducible materials and back-up files for Trainer Manual

Step 4: Participation in the five-day Summer Institute in Colorado Springs for designated Master Trainers

A specified number of site-trainers, identified by the school district, will participate in the annual Gurian Summer Training Institute on the campus of the University of Colorado in July. These trainers will be identified as Master Trainers by the Gurian Institute, certified to train new site trainers, with a limited non-exclusive license to use all Gurian Institute trainer training materials during the course of the contract. They will become the Leadership Team that GI will meet and work with over the course of the contract.

Step 5: Facilitation of three follow-up sessions with Master Trainers, scheduled quarterly during the school year following their attendance at the Summer Institute.

The Gurian Institute will facilitate three meetings during the school year to provide hands-on, personalized assistance, to enhance networking and professional dialogue of the Master Trainers, to support their ongoing knowledge acquisition, and to enhance their abilities to implement and facilitate the work with site trainers

Step 6: Participant materials are required for each individual trained in the district.

The school district will purchase an appropriate age-level participant manual at a cost of $15 per participant for all school training facilitated by Master and Site Trainers. Orders will be placed with the GI office in Colorado Springs 30 days in advance of each scheduled training session.

Gurian Institute trainers will facilitate one or more community sessions for parents of students within the district. Master Trainers will apprentice and be able to facilitate ongoing parent sessions.

As the school district implements effective strategies to help both boys and girls improve performance and, ultimately, improve the overall district performance by closing gender gaps, it is important that parents gain knowledge of what the district is accomplishing and how they can help at home. GI Parenting Newsletters provide an easy, cost-effective ways to meet NCLB parent involvement mandates. The newsletters, published August through May, regularly include content that supports NCLB [Section 1118 Parent Involvement] objectives such as:

(e)(2) - provide materials and training to help parents to work with their children to improve their children’s achievement

(e)(4) - coordinate and integrate parent involvement programs and activities with other programs to encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children

(f) - provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English



		The Gurian Institute designs district level training targeting the geographic location and demographics of your district. When developing a fee structure we consider: Size of district Number of faculty/staff/administrators who will participate Number of days of the training Whether any participants will be certified (contact the Training Division for info about certification)


When sponsoring school districts/organizations wish to provide Gurian Institute training by establishing an in-house training program, the Training of Trainers (TOT) option is a good one to pursue. TOT is designed as a four day Training Institute at the end of which a predetermined number of in-house trainers will be certified by the Gurian Institute to provide future trainings within the sponsoring organization. If you are interested in district level training, or exploring hosting a TOT contact the Gurian Institute and we will customize a proposal that meets your professional development needs.
Gurian Institute District Level Training Protocol Following is our recommended format for providing district level training on Boys & Girls Learn Differently. This comprehensive training covers age levels from Pre-K through grade 12 and is appropriate for coed and single-sex environments. Step 1: Community-wide keynote event featuring Michael Gurian Michael Gurian, founder and CEO of the Gurian Institute, presents a community keynote event to introduce the district-wide initiative to address how boys and girls learn differently and how addressing those differences can improve achievement, decrease disciplinary referrals, close gender gaps and improve overall district success in meeting performance standards. Step 2: Leadership Institutes The Gurian Institute provides training at the district leadership level, designed to target principals, assistant principals, curriculum coordinators, academic coaches and those in similar leadership position. This is also a good time to include district level personnel who work closely with building administrators. These sessions are designed to be from three to five hours long and develop awareness and basic understanding of the scientific foundation for how boys and girls learn, how to observe strategic implementation of professional development delivered to teachers, and strategies for taking the information back to individual schools. The sessions are experiential, allowing leadership to experience some of what their faculty and staff will be participating in during their professional development. These sessions are a logical first step in a district-wide training format. Step 3: Intensive Trainings for District Designated Site Trainers Individuals chosen by the school district to become in-house trainers for Boys & Girls Learn Differently curriculum attend a three to four day Intensive Training session which prepares them to provide training to schools in the district. This session will be designed with input from district leadership and will focus on the demographics and specific needs of the individual district. Designated as Site Trainers, they will be trained as age-level specialists and generalists. Site Trainers will receive all materials needed to facilitate the training as part of their district training responsibilities. Participants who complete this training will be designated as “Certified Site Trainers” school district, eligible to deliver training to any school or organization within the district. They will not be certified to train outside the district. As part of these sessions, Site Trainers receive all materials needed to facilitate the training as part of their district training responsibilities. This includes: Trainer Manual (including curriculum for age-level sessions) Participant manual: Elementary Level Participant manual: Secondary Level 2-Training DVDs PowerPoint presentations CD containing reproducible materials and back-up files for Trainer Manual Step 4: Participation in the five-day Summer Institute in Colorado Springs for designated Master Trainers A specified number of site-trainers, identified by the school district, will participate in the annual Gurian Summer Training Institute on the campus of the University of Colorado in July. These trainers will be identified as Master Trainers by the Gurian Institute, certified to train new site trainers, with a limited non-exclusive license to use all Gurian Institute trainer training materials during the course of the contract. They will become the Leadership Team that GI will meet and work with over the course of the contract. Step 5: Facilitation of three follow-up sessions with Master Trainers, scheduled quarterly during the school year following their attendance at the Summer Institute. The Gurian Institute will facilitate three meetings during the school year to provide hands-on, personalized assistance, to enhance networking and professional dialogue of the Master Trainers, to support their ongoing knowledge acquisition, and to enhance their abilities to implement and facilitate the work with site trainers Step 6: Participant materials are required for each individual trained in the district. The school district will purchase an appropriate age-level participant manual at a cost of $15 per participant for all school training facilitated by Master and Site Trainers. Orders will be placed with the GI office in Colorado Springs 30 days in advance of each scheduled training session. Step 7: Community Awareness Sessions for Parents Gurian Institute trainers will facilitate one or more community sessions for parents of students within the district. Master Trainers will apprentice and be able to facilitate ongoing parent sessions. Step 8: Subscribe to Gurian Institute monthly parenting newsletters. As the school district implements effective strategies to help both boys and girls improve performance and, ultimately, improve the overall district performance by closing gender gaps, it is important that parents gain knowledge of what the district is accomplishing and how they can help at home. GI Parenting Newsletters provide an easy, cost-effective ways to meet NCLB parent involvement mandates. The newsletters, published August through May, regularly include content that supports NCLB [Section 1118 Parent Involvement] objectives such as: (d)(1) - help parents to monitor attendance, homework, television watching (d)(2) - communication between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis (e)(2) - provide materials and training to help parents to work with their children to improve their children’s achievement (e)(4) - coordinate and integrate parent involvement programs and activities with other programs to encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children (e)(9) - train parents to enhance the involvement of other parents (e)(11)- adopt and implement model approaches to improving parent involvement (f) - provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English Go back to School Training