High-quality, collaborative, professional development for teachers is a difference-maker for students. I have witnessed firsthand its power as a teacher and mathematics curriculum chair at Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic Secondary School in Oshawa, Ontario. Our school is in an urban area with significant socio-economic challenges not unlike those found in many U.S. cities. The inner-city […]
How closely is professional development linked to student achievement? Professionalism expects learning to be in the collective. We should think of our own learning and growth as part of a mutually beneficial ongoing professional development process. A big part of that idea is that we share and become more transparent in our practice as educators. […]
When Mark MacLean became superintendent of the Merrimack Valley and Andover School Districts in New Hampshire four years ago, he wanted to find an online solution for teacher evaluation that could also link to professional development. After some research with his leadership team, MacLean found TeachPoint, which offers a Professional Development Tracking Solution that also […]
School districts know that "sit-and-get" professional development isn't working and can have extreme consequences, such as high teacher turnover and poor student performance. To combat this, across the country there is an ongoing, rapid evolution of professional development to be more personalized. While change in education is often slow, this long-overdue advancement is quickly taking […]
While innovations typically involve a high degree of novelty and a paradigm shift, tried-and-true best practices often serve as their launch pad and rocket fuel. In designing and selecting professional development opportunities that harness and reflect best practices in education, there are four key elements for a high-quality experience: authenticity, contextual learning, a creative climate, […]
Timothy Collier has been teaching high school mathematics for more than 30 years, most of them at McAlester High School in southeast Oklahoma, where he is the department chair. State budget cuts have affected McAlester High School and the district's eight other schools, especially in the area of professional development for teachers, who were facing […]
When it comes to professional development, Regina Teat believes building the instructional capacity of every instructor and classroom teacher is the most effective use of time and money of any program, especially using grant funding. "When the money goes away, the capacity and knowledge through good professional development for the teacher remains" says Teat, Director […]
Two years ago, Elizabeth Rincon was seeking to end the last-minute scramble to cull professional development for approximately 125 special education paraprofessionals on days when teachers had preplanned PD. "Principals had to either swiftly get something together for paraprofessionals in terms of PD or they would email me and I would have to quickly plan […]
I work with schools to teach brand and marketing strategies to educators. That job didn't exist a few short years ago. It's not typical work and neither is school branding, which I characterize as "business as unusual." Branding is an empowering trend for educators who move out of their typical professional silos into understanding marketing […]
Finding quality professional development for science teachers continues to be a challenge as school districts expand STEM programs. Many science centers and museums offer STEM-related PD, and want to partner with districts to develop programs that align with school curriculum and Next Generation Science Standards. "One thing we hear from teachers is they appreciate science […]
