Professional Development

Professional Development Opportunities (Blog feed)

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)  

The National Staff Development Council (NSDC) defines professional development as, “A comprehensive, sustained, and intensive approach to improving teachers’ and principals’ effectiveness in raising student achievement.”  NSDC also has developed a set of standards for the context, process, and content of professional development.

Professional development occurs at the district, school, grade level/department/team, and individual levels.  Professional development works best when the goals at each of these levels are aligned and coordinated, so that work at one level ultimately positively impacts each of the other levels and assists with making progress toward raising student achievement.  

In RSU No 5 our Strategic Framework sets forth the district goals.  In the 2010-11 school year each school developed a building based action plan aimed at making progress toward elements of the Strategic Framework.  Within each school, smaller teams of teachers and individual teachers also developed action plans aligned with the school and ultimately the district goals.  Using data to report on progress toward the district and school action plans will become an annual process that will assist in aligning and coordinating professional development.  

Opportunities for grade level/department/team and individual professional development occurs through the process of supervision and evaluation and certification.  The development of an annual Professional Improvement Plan, in collaboration with building administrators, allows principals and staff members to work together on more specific professional learning goals.  The work associated with achieving and maintaining state certification through a Teacher Action Plan is also an opportunity for individual professional learning. 

As identified in the NSDC’s standards for professional development, resources must be allocated for professional development.  Time is one of those key elements.  RSU No. 5 finds time for professional development through a combination of several structures:  

• common planning time  
• full professional learning days
• late arrival mornings
• early release afternoons 
• staff meeting afternoons

Determining the number and scheduling of full days, late arrival days, and early release afternoons is the work of the Use of Time Advisory Committee, a group of teachers, administrators, Board of Directors members, and parents/community members.  In 2009-2010 this group convened and were charged “to consider the optimal use of time to benefit students and staff while balancing the needs of families and the community” as they make recommendations for the 2010-11 school calendar.  The group will reconvene in December 2011 to begin the work of evaluating the strengths and challenges of the current calendar, and making recommendations for the 2011-2012 calendar.