Objective #1:  :  Establish and support professional development programs focused on improving student learning that are explicitly connected to the comprehensive school and district improvement process.   

Strategies/Activities

Ø      Design, develop and implement professional development programs based on the district’s focus areas, school improvement processes, and curriculum priorities (see attached priorities).

Ø      Incorporate into the curriculum ad hoc reporting structure a description of the professional development provided to support implementation efforts. 

Ø      Continue to monitor the reflection component to the school improvement process requiring district and school teams to describe how and what structures they have identified to support teacher learning.

Ø      Use the district conference summary form to connect conference attendance directly to standards and student achievement, and require all staff members who attend conferences to develop a plan for sharing their learning with colleagues.

Ø      Communicate the comprehensiveness of the professional development programs to staff through the following vehicles:  District School Based Coordinating Council, District Curriculum Council, School Based Planning Teams, Teaching Learning Center. 

Evaluation Strategies

 

Strategies	Who	When
Ø      Improved student performance as measured by national, state, and local assessments.	All Staff	Ongoing
Ø      Report the effectiveness of professional development programs on student performance as part of the annual student report card presentation to Board of Education.	ASI	April 2011
Ø      Use of the conference summary form to measure conference attendance and collegial sharing related to standards and student achievement.  Analyze revisions to the conference summary form to determine effectiveness.	PDP Committee	Ongoing
Ø      Monitor correlation between school-based planning activities and structured opportunities for professional development.	SBP Coordinating Council and PDP Committee	Nov. 2010
Ø      Continue communication of the correlation between Ad Hoc processes and structured opportunities for professional development to the District Curriculum Council and the Board of Education.	ASI DCC	Ongoing

 Objective #2:  : Continue to monitor professional development needs within the district using multiple sources of data. 

Strategies/Activities:

Ø      Regularly re-examine the types of data used in the PDP Needs Analysis to search for strengths, weaknesses, needs, and trends.

Ø      Provide professional development experiences so that teachers can effectively collect and use student performance data to inform instruction.

Ø      Identify and analyze additional sources of meaningful data beyond the results provided by formal assessments (longitudinal studies, focus groups, student surveys, etc.). 

Evaluation Strategies:

 

Strategies	Who	When
Ø      Report the results of needs analyses and data to appropriate groups within the district, including the District Curriculum Council, School Based Planning Coordinating Council, and Board of Education.	ASI Director of Standards Support PDP Committee TLC Director	Ongoing
Ø      Use longitudinal data as it becomes available to conduct studies that address questions about student performance.	ASI Director of Standards Support	Ongoing
Ø      Identify common teaching and instructional needs through the district and individual goal setting process.	ASI Leadership & Teaching Staff Director of Standards Support	Spring 2011
Ø      Collect and analyze survey data relative to specific needs of teachers using a variety of sources including, but not limited to, the TLC needs analysis and data from leadership staff.	ASI Director of Standards Supp. TLC Director Leadership Staff	Spring 2011
Ø      Gather information by reading current studies to support decision making in professional development.	PDP Committee	Ongoing, as necessary
Ø      Explore whether additional sources of data are effective in evaluating professional development.	PDP Committee	Ongoing, as necessary

 

Objective #3:  

There are three areas around which all professional development will be organized:

Ø      Content- academic subject knowledge

Ø      Context- the climate for authentic learning

Ø      Pedagogy or Process – a repertoire of instructional strategies

 

These opportunities will be matched to the needs of the faculty according to their stages of development based upon research, theory, and standards of professional practice.

 

Strategies/Activities:

 

Ø      Identify and prioritize needs based on student achievement, faculty readiness, and the ad hoc process.

Ø      Provide appropriate and varied professional development opportunities.

Ø      Practice opportunities for teachers to deepen their understanding of the content, context, and pedagogy needed in a standards-based classroom.

Ø      Analyze assessment of student work to identify areas of instructional need and intervention strategies. 

 

Evaluation Strategies:

 

Strategies	Who	When
Ø      Collect and analyze data from professional development opportunities and use the data to inform future experiences.	SBPT, TLC, ASI	Dec. 2010- June 2011
Ø      Review student performance data and BEDS data, particularly in identified areas of need to guide future professional development and future instructional strategies.	SBPT, TLC, ASI	Dec. 2010- June 2011