Through the support of the professional development program, the effectiveness of the teachers enhances the quality of instruction and increases the student achievement and learning. The delivery of professional development program leads to alterations in professional learning, leading to changes in professional practice, which ultimately impact student achievement.
The PD program does increase the capacity of faculty because we learn new strategies for learning and engaging learners. By looking at data, faculty is able to align their instruction to the school’s vision and mission. Twice a month (at least) all faculty attend the Professional Learning Communities (PLC) training workshops. These are geared towards instruction, district initiatives, and student achievement. Professional Development is provided for teachers to assist them with the required materials to guarantee all students obtain highly quality instruction.
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The CIP plan is separated into specific sections, and the AIT team reviews and the CIP plan to determine PD topics. The purpose of this Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) is to communicate the goals, strategies, and actions a school is taking to improve academic achievement and school climate. The plan is written to inform a variety of stakeholder audiences including, district and school leadership, family and community members, state and federal education agencies. The intention of the school’s CIP is to show progress on the level of teaching and learning of the students in the school. The school’s CIP provides an outline for examining instructional concerns in the school that has not made adequate progress in student’s achievement. Consequently, the school’s continuous improvement plan emphasizes the achievement in the core academic subjects and the strategies used to teach them, followed by professional developments to ensure that students are accomplishing
Thornton Fractional South High School represents a diverse school building in the South Suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. We consist of a traditional 9th through 12th grade building with the exception of busing students to the District 215 Tech Center for vocational classes. We share these resources with our sister school TF North. Although we consistently outperform TFN, we are behind the state averages on both the ACT and the PSAE. On the ACT, we are below the state average on the composite score as well as on all three recorded sub-categories. We were closest to the state average in Science and the furthest in Reading. As for the PSAE test to measure those students meeting and exceeding standards, we are again behind the state average. TFS averaged 40.5% of students tested to meet or exceed standards. Meanwhile, the State of Illinois average was 53%. Currently, we are on the Academic Watch Status year 2. We were unable to meet the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) or the Safe Harbor Target Goal for Reading and Mathematics which are the two target areas. Our goal as a school is to reach the AYP and attempt to reach and exceed the state averages on the ACT and PSAE.
I can help my teachers be professional learners by using observation and evaluation processes, like those found in Danielson’s model, to promote self-assessment, reflection on practices, and professional conversations with them. The Framework can help me have honest, reflective conversations with the teachers about their instruction and I can use it as a guide to help all involved in professional development decisions. In other words, I can use such teacher evaluation models to promote active engagement and encourage professional growth in all
One part of the HSTW framework is a set of 10 Key Practices that each participating site implements by developing and carrying out a customized action plan for school improvement (SREB 1999). Kaufman et al. (2000) used existing HSTW data to analyze the impact of 6 clusters representing HSTW's 10 Key Practices. They concluded that achievement gains in science, reading, and math were correlated with the proportion of students meeting HSTW curriculum standards and with the amount of time students spent talking to their guidance counselors and teachers about their school program. They also concluded that the proportion of students perceiving their academic and CTE teachers working together to improve students' math, reading, and writing skills was correlated with achievement gains in those three areas. This Brief provides practical examples of approaches HSTW sites have used to move toward HSTW curriculum standards, provide students with guidance, and allow academic and CTE teachers to work together.
IEP Development. In developing the IEP, the team should determine the child’s present level of academic achievement and functional performance and project whether any additions or modifications to the instruction or services are necessary to enable the child to meet measurable annual goals and to participate, as appropriate, in the general education curriculum. IDEA requires that the team considers the student’s strengths; parents’ concerns; evaluation results; and academic, functional, and developmental needs of the student. The IEP team must also consider individual circumstances. One special consideration is whether the student’s behavior impedes that student’s learning or the learning of other students. If so, the IEP team must consider the use of positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS), and other strategies, to address the behavior.
Fratt, L. (2007). Professional Development for the New Century. (Cover story). District Administration, 43(6), 56-60. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
“The Goal” is a book written by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox in 1984. The book is very famous in the management field. In 2004, the author published the third revision of it and celebrated selling over than three million copied of it around the world. Also, the goal book is taught in over than 120 collages. The book was recommended by my professor to be read and summarize as an extra credit.
Continuous improvement (CI) refers to a philosophy consisting of improvement activities that increase successes and reduce failures in a production process (Bhuiyan & Baghel 2005, p. 761). It involves activities and processes that focus on continuous and incremental innovation (Bessant et al., 1994, p.17). CI is a new approach that enhances productivity, performance, and achieves competitive advantage needed in the highly competitive industries. It may also serve as a complementary approach to other quality improvement initiatives such as total quality management (TQM) (Pike, Barnes, & Barnes 1995, p. 23; Larson 2003; Lassen, Gertsen, & Riis 2006; Oakland 2007, p. 227). The purpose of this research is to explore the application of production systems engineering methods in the CI at manufacturing plants.
An effective school leader possesses skills to create, implement, evaluate, improve and share a staff development plan. I met with Ben Rhodes, Sandy Creek Middle School’s principal, to interview him on the specific elements of his yearly staff development plan. We began with the design process focusing on the district and school goals. District goals include improving literacy across the content areas in reading and writing, Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum (GVC). Guaranteed and Viable Technology (GVT), and Closing the Achievement Gap (Equity in Excellence). Using a variety of assessments to focus on specific needs, Ben Rhodes and Mary Sonya, our Pupil Achievement Specialist, examined CSAP, Explore, MAP, and RAD data. They use the Colorado Growth Model to help guide them to determine if students have made adequate yearly progress. Together, they created the plan that included the district goals mentioned above as well as continuing to include new technology skills, information on special education changes with Response to Intervention (RTI), maintaining current staff implementation of literacy goals and a new goal of raising achievement in math.
Traditionally, teacher development typically occurs through trial and error in the isolated confinements of each teacher’s classroom with some periodic whole-group professional development (Goddard & Goddard, 2007). Within the past few decades, many schools and districts, including ours, have considered and experimented with Professional Learning Communities (PLC) as an alternative framework in guiding a more efficient development program for their teachers. PLCs are focused on enhancing student learning through developing teacher practices. The concept of PLC relies on using structured collaborative sessions amongst teachers within the school to build internal capacity. Through PLCs, teachers critically reflect on current practices, brainstorm solutions, and obtain help and advice from others in a supportive growth-oriented environment over an extended period of time (Vescio, Ross, & Adams, 2008; Nelson, 2009; Scher & O'Reilly, 2009; Bolam, McMahon, Stoll, Thomas, & Wallace, 2005). The theory of change guiding PLCs holds that by providing teachers with targeted support from within the school community, as oppose to hiring additional outside experts, professional developments can become for efficient. Implementation of effective PLCs requires intentional effort, school-wide and possibly district-wide restructuring of teacher schedules, and additional resources. For schools considering implementing PLCs, it is important to understand the logic of action and the benefits of PLCs as it relates to teacher improvement and increased student achievement.
Performance management is a process that guarantees an organisation and all of its available resources are working collectively and effectively towards achieving the organisation’s mission or goal. Performance management affords an understanding of what drives an individuals, and even organisations, performance at all levels. An understanding of performance management allows for the identification and minimisation of unproductive areas of an organisation, as well as an ability to predict future performance. It is a powerful tool that can be used by managers at all levels of an organisation to help improve a company’s productivity.
Personal and professional development plans (PDP) are the course of actions created on the basis of our values and our reflections on our skills which help us learn and develop ourselves and prepare us for the future. They are our estimations on how to and when to accomplish the tasks. Both personal and professional lives are benefitted with the development plan.
Another factor considered in this study is the professional development of teachers. Professional development of teachers is a strong factor that enhances teachers’ knowledge and learning. A number of studies have reflected that the said factor is imperative to a positive change of every individual that seeks development professionally.
When all stakeholders share similar core values and agree on the aims of education, reform efforts stand a better chance for success. Knowledge, skills, critical thinking, and citizenship are core values found at the heart of my beliefs for education. I also believe it is the aim of education to prepare students as contributing members of society. In schools where core values and education aims are revisited due to reform implementation, strategies are identified along with a plan for implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The federal government, state, districts, school leadership, teachers, students and parents all have significant responsibilities to make reform efforts a success.
The National Staff Development Council (2009) shed more light on professional development in education. The definition put out by the NSDC (2015) in a proposed modification to the elementary and secondary education act, states that professional development is “a comprehensive, sustained and intensive approach to improving
...o expand knowledge of subject matter is through read books, journals, and magazine, participate in professional development activities and attend conferences. The value of participating in professional associations and organization helps teacher to move towards expertise to become engaged, active, and passionate and connect to their students (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). As the teacher enhance and grow in the professional development can have a greatly impact on student learning, “Expert teachers know more than novices and organize that knowledge differently, retrieve it easily, and apply it in novel and creative ways” (Garmston, 1998). Therefore, there is such a significant value of participating in professional development through joining association or organization to help teacher to grow in expert in teaching and making an impact on student learning.