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Slide 1: Professional Development Planning Matching Trainings to Teacher and Student Learning Needs
Slide 2: Professional Development Planning Rationale:  Improved student learning is the objective of professional development .  Professional development powerful enough to significantly restructure established procedures and instruction requires careful selection and planning.
Slide 3: Professional Development Planning Rationale:  The principal models the attitude that learning is ongoing in the effort to be better.  There is always something more to learn.
Slide 4: Ideas for Implementation:  Communicate that a learning environment where professional growth is expected leads to continuous student, teacher, and school improvement is the norm.  Build a collaborative learning community for teachers, administrators, and other professional staff.
Slide 5: Ideas for Implementation  Analyze needs as the major tool for planning professional development initiatives. Use disaggregated data to determine student needs and teachers’ strengths and weaknesses.
Slide 6: Ideas for Implementation  Provide varied and flexible options to meet staff needs.  Action Research  Teacher mentoring  Modeling and coaching from district or ESC master teachers  Planning sessions modeling the use of disaggregated data to develop lessons  Observing skilled teachers within the school or the district  Book studies
Slide 7: Ideas for Implementation:  Work with district personnel to learn policy guidelines, budget options, and to find an advocate for accrediting these flexible options to teachers as required staff development hours.  Commit to seek the necessary funding, resources, district waivers and assistance to make professional development a real and practical tool for teachers to use to help students learn.
Slide 8: Ideas for Implementation  Encourage professional staff to use student data to determine their own need to grow and improve and to seek training that addresses that need.
Slide 9: Ensure quality in any professional development session.  Use the following questions to decide if it is appropriate:  Does school data indicate that this provides something we need to know?  Does my staff see the need for this training? Are they ready and willing to learn?  Is the presenter an acknowledged expert?
Slide 10: Ask these questions (cont’d)  Do we have a plan for using this training that includes time and planning to implement, monitoring and evaluating?  Does the plan allow time for re-teaching or follow-up training if necessary?
Slide 11: Ideas for Implementation (cont’d)  Match school wide staff development to meet challenges or solve problems determined by significant staff input.  Use benchmark test scores to add or adjust professional development trainings.  Schedule time to monitor the impact of professional development on teacher effectiveness.
Slide 12: Ideas for Implementation (cont’d)  In January, plan the professional development calendar for the next school year and post it for the teachers.  Strive to embed individual staff development within campus, district, state, and federal training requirements.
Slide 13: Research/Resources:  Toolkit for Planning Professional Development, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory http://www.ncrel.org/pd/toolkit.htm  Data Driven Professional Development, A Guide to Action Research, Education Reform Network http://prodev.edreform.net/portal/prodev/data  A National Plan for Improving Professional Development, National Staff Development Council http://www.nsdc.org/library/authors/NSCDPlan.cfm
Slide 14: Resource:  SIRC, Region 13 ESC (2007).School Improvement Resource Center Guidelines.