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Proposal for Professional Development Katherine Halliday

Proposal for Professional Development Katherine Halliday. Background Information : Established as a small district for surrounding rural towns in 1967 T owns developed with time and the school district grew exponentially

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Proposal for Professional Development Katherine Halliday

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  1. Proposal for Professional DevelopmentKatherine Halliday

  2. Background Information: • Established as a small district for surrounding rural towns in 1967 • Towns developed with time and the school district grew exponentially • Two of the larger towns in the district are now considered suburban, while RSD’s rural roots still remain Raider School District Information

  3. Schools: • Student body contains approximately 7,300 students • Ten schools within the district: • 4 elementary schools • 2 upper elementary schools • 1 - 7/8 middle school • 1- 9/10 intermediate high school • 1 - 11/12 senior high school • 1 cyber school Raider School District Information

  4. High Schools: • 9-12 student body consists of approximately 2,200 students • 10 mathematics teachers at intermediate high school • 9 math teachers at senior high school • The following mathematics courses are offered at both: • Algebra 1 • Geometry • Algebra 2 • Algebra 3 • Trigonometry • Pre-Calculus with Trigonometry • Introductory Statistics, Personal Finance • College in High School (CHS) and Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics • CHS and AP Calculus • There are also various honors courses available to students. Raider School District Information

  5. PSSA Data: • In the past eight years, RSD’s 11th Grade Math PSSA scores have increased; however, they have reached a plateau in the most recent five years: 71.0% 69.1% 71.3% 72.2% 71.2% 64.1% 59.5% 56.1% Raider School District Information

  6. Students’ math achievement has not significantly increased in the past five years • Raider Senior High School would like their students to: • Increase their proficiency level on the PA math assessment (Keystone’s Exams) • Shift from below basic or basic to proficient or advanced • Shift from proficient to advanced Student Needs

  7. Raider Senior High School teachers adjusted their curricula to focus on state standards (linked to the increase from 2005 – 2007) • Math teachers as a whole have not enhanced their instructional strategies • A few teachers practice excellent instructional strategies • Some want to do well, but need support from instructional leaders • A couple of math teachers are set in their traditional teaching ways and are not provided with feedback to improve • Grades 9-12 math teachers are in need of rich professional development to improve their instruction • If teachers differentiate their instruction through discovery-based and rigorous task learning, students’ math performance will likely improve. Teacher Needs

  8. Background: • No concrete math professional development plans at high school level in past 7 years • Spoke to Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Curriculum about future math PD plans • 9 – 12 math teachers will pilot a PD plan similar to the effective math plan at elementary levels next school year Current Professional Development Plan

  9. Elementary Math PD Plan: • An elementary teacher working on her doctorate in math education at University of Pittsburgh worked with Professor Margaret Smith to create a math instruction plan • Dr. Smith - conducts research on characteristics of math classrooms with high levels of cognitive demands • My colleague implemented Dr. Smith’s best practices into her classroom • Building principals saw the success of her instructional strategies • District administrators decided to implement an elementary professional development plan to incorporate the rigorous task and discovery-based learning strategies of Dr. Smith Current Professional Development Plan

  10. Elementary Math PD Plan (continued): • District leaders researched math education consultants to focus on rigorous tasks that foster differentiated instruction • Created a pilot group of teachers to receive PD in 2009-2010 school year • Completed 7 half-day PD sessions, in addition to weekly professional learning community meetings with their colleagues • District leaders measured pilot students’ growth against control group’s growth using NWEA and PSSA data and found significant results • Plan continued with 2 more PD sessions for the pilot group, and the remaining elementary teachers in district began the two-year plan the following year Current Professional Development Plan

  11. Elementary Math PD Results: • The district also saw an increase in Math PSSA proficiency levels year-to-year (not always statistically significant): Current Professional Development Plan

  12. Secondary Math PD Plan: • Due to the success at the elementary level, Raider School District decided to implement the PD plan at the secondary level • Started with half of the 7th and 8th grade math teachers this school year • Half of the 9 – 12 math teachers will begin the plan next school year Current Professional Development Plan

  13. Secondary Math PD Plan: • Every secondary math teacher will complete 2 years of professional development in math instruction • Due to budget constraints, district administrators may utilize teacher leaders to present professional development sessions • At this time, there are no concrete guidelines for the professional learning communities Current Professional Development Plan

  14. Hire external, research-based consultants to facilitate professional development sessions • Provide explicit professional learning community guidelines for weekly meetings • Require all students to take NWEA assessments in fall and spring semesters to measure learning growth of professional development plan Recommendations for Improvement

  15. 1. Hire Researched Professional Development Consultants: • It is challenging for internal leadership of professional development to be successful (Crow, 2008) • Hiring researched professional development consultants helps relieve schools of their belief that they are doing fine on their own (Crow, 2008) Recommendations for Improvement

  16. 1. Researched PD Consultants (continued): • I suggest the district hire one of the researched math consultants that have been used in our district in the past: • Dr. Margaret Smith • Dr. Victoria Bill • Dr. Diane Briars • Dr. Melissa Boston • Dr. J. Daniel Miller Recommendations for Improvement

  17. Researched PD Consultants (continued): • These consultants will help secondary math teachers improve their instruction through incorporation of discovery-based learning through rigorous tasks that foster differentiated instruction • Teacher instruction will improve • Student math achievement will improve • Student data will be collected to measure growth: • NWEA fall and spring math scores • PSSA/Keystone Exam scores • Classroom observations of student participation and use of math talk • Other classroom data Recommendations for Improvement

  18. 2. Guidelines for Professional Learning Community Meetings: • Coburn and Russell (2008) found successful results on teacher instruction when PLCs had structured guidelines and tasks • I recommend the district leaders work with the math consultant to create these guidelines and specific tasks for scheduled PLC meetings • Structured PLC meetings will hold teachers accountable to the new PD instructional strategies • Peer observations will help teachers successfully implement their strategies Recommendations for Improvement

  19. 2. Guidelines for PLC Meetings (continued): • We should see more class discussions, hands-on tasks, and differentiated instruction in math, which will increase students’ cognitive development • Student growth will be measured through the same collected data from the previous recommendation Recommendations for Improvement

  20. 3. NWEA Assessment Tool: • Researched and utilized by RSD for past 10 years • All students in district take the NWEA in the fall and spring semester, except students taking honors or AP math courses • The district’s previous focus was to reach out to lower performing math students • What about our middle to high level math students? • Requiring all students to complete this assessment will provide teachers with baseline data to differentiate instruction and effectively plan tasks • Growth can be measured in the spring assessment Recommendations for Improvement

  21. Coburn, C.E. & Russell, J.L. (2008). Getting the most out of professional learning communities and coaching: Promoting interactions that support instructional improvement. University of Pittsburgh Learning Policy Brief, 1(3) 1-5. • Crow, T. (2008). Declaration of interdependence. JSD, 29(3), 53-56. Retrieved August 28, 2008, from: http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/index.cfm • Pennsylvania department of education. (2012). Retrieved November 4, 2012, from http://www.portal.state.pa.us References

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