Staff Development: What’s Happening in Schools Today?

1. Staff Development: What’s Happening in Schools Today? Tina Launey MEDT 8464: Module 2.4 November 4, 2009

2. Essential Questions • How are staff development needs determined (at the school or district level)? • How is a staff development plan implemented, and how is its effectiveness evaluated? • What role(s) should the media specialist play in the staff development process?

3. Staff Development Model: Montgomery County School District • Spends three percent of its annual budget – $50 million – on recruitment and staff development. • Has developed partnerships with local universities, whereby the district “regularly communicates its needs, enabling education schools to recruit students who want to teach in the district’s high-need subject areas” (Gewertz, 2006).

4. Staff Development Model: Montgomery County School District • Offers contracts to promising candidates in April for the following school year, ensuring that positions are filled. • All teachers in the highest-poverty schools in Montgomery County meet highly qualified teaching requirements specified in No Child Left Behind.

5. Staff Development Model: Montgomery County School District • Requires all teachers to receive training about the district’s curriculum and establish individual improvement plans. • Provides ample support and growth opportunities. • Dismisses underperforming teachers who continue to underperform following extensive staff development training.

6. Staff Development Model: Comprehensive Balanced Literacy • State-funded grant allowed for collaboration between an independent school district and faculty in reading and special education from a local university. • Goal: Implement a balanced literacy program that results in improvement of elementary students’ literacy skills.

7. Staff Development Model: Comprehensive Balanced Literacy • Faculty and district personnel created a staff development plan that provided the following components: • Staff development instruction in balanced literacy tactics. • Implementation of balanced literacy approach. • Consistent, ongoing supervision/feedback. • Formative and summative evaluations of student work (Gerla, Gilliam, & Wright, 2006).

8. Staff Development Model: Comprehensive Balanced Literacy • 54 teachers from 16 elementary campuses received week-long balanced literacy instruction from a consultant. • University faculty were involved throughout staff development program, from instructional sessions, follow-up monitoring, and coaching, to program evaluation and assessments (pre and post).

9. What Do These Scenarios Have in Common? • Trained staff development coaches within the district or trained consultantsfrom outside the district. • Adequate fundingat the school/district level for staff development program, through budget allotment or grant funds. • Partnerships with education programs/faculty at local universities.

10. What Do These Scenarios Have in Common? • Accountability from teachers who have received staff development training. • Continual assessment of student/teacher performance following delivery of staff development module(s). • Positive results following staff development training, in the form of increased student achievement!

11. Staff Development Model: Key Elements • Clear-cut staff development goals at the district or school level. • Ongoing financial resources to support: • Staff development coaches/consultants. • Instructional materials for teachers during staff development courses. • Classroom materials required to implement best practices. • Additional staff support to cover teachers who are attending staff development courses. • Continuing assessment and evaluation of teacher practices, and ongoing instruction for new hires.

12. Staff Development Model: Key Elements • Mutual beneficial relationships with local universitiesthat can serve as partners in: • Assessing staff development needs. • Formulating a staff development plan. • Delivering training modules to staff. • Evaluating the impact of the staff development plan.

13. Revisiting the Essential Questions • How are staff development needs determined (at the school or district level)? • At the local school and district level, staff development coaches or independent consultants should be dedicated to determining the most critical needs of the school/district, relative to school improvement/student achievement goals.

14. Revisiting the Essential Questions • How is a staff development plan implemented, and how is its effectiveness evaluated? • Dedicated staff development coaches/ independent consultants should work with key players – administrators, team leaders, auxiliary staff (including media specialists), and partners from local universities/consulting firms to create a staff development plan that details goals to be met, strategies for delivery of staff development, and methods of evaluating the effectiveness of the staff development model.

15. Revisiting the Essential Questions • What role(s) should the media specialist play in the staff development process? • Participate in the school’s leadership and school improvement teams – these groups work to identify areas of need and develop solutions to meet identified goals. • Attend meetings during which staff development modules are being developed – provides the opportunity to see where the media center fits into the overall model.

16. Revisiting the Essential Questions • What role(s) should the media specialist play in the staff development process? • Support the school’s staff development goals by purchasing materials used in staff development modules, including professional materials, software programs/online databases, and read-aloud books. • Reinforce staff development instruction the teachers are receiving by incorporating the strategies they are using in the classroom into media center activities.

17. Revisiting the Essential Questions • What role(s) should the media specialist play in the staff development process? • When applicable, take part in staff development courses! Lead sessions that pertain to media resources and information skills development.

18. Suggestions for Staff Development Topics • Using online resources (to which the school or district subscribes) effectively: • Showing videos on BrainPop and GPB United Streaming, and using interactive tools (like quizzes and lesson planners) contained within these sites. • Integrating online eBook websites into classroom instruction (Scholastic Book Flix and Tumblebooks). • Locating research articles, images, video clips, and sound files in Cobb Virtual Library databases.

19. Suggestions for Staff Development Topics • Using Destiny (online library catalog for Cobb County) to find materials and information: • Locating books in Destiny. • Using Destiny WebPath Express to find age-appropriate, standards-related web sites. • Creating and managing patron accounts in Destiny; recommending books, writing book reviews, and requesting library materials in Destiny. • Using Destiny as a link to external web sites (through Computer Pathfinders).

20. Suggestions for Staff Development Topics • Creating classroom blogs to highlight student work and communicate with parents: • Setting up and designing a class blog. • Creating and managing blog posts. • Obtaining permission to use student photographs and examples of student work. • Posting media files (images, movies, sound) to classroom blogs.

21. Suggestions for Staff Development Topics • Using video in the classroom (teachers learn, then teach the students): • Teaching students how to operate video cameras and record classroom activities. • Teaching students how to download videos to classroom computers. • Showing students how to combine video, still images, and sound files in Windows MovieMaker. • Using advanced video editing techniques in Windows MovieMaker.

22. Resources • Gewertz, C. (2005). Staff investment pays dividends in md. district. Education Week, 24(44), 1-16. • Gerla, J.P., Gilliam, B., & Wright, G. (2006). Project summit: a cooperative effort to effect teacher change. Education, 127(2), 280-286.