Natick Public Schools Professional Development Plan Mission: Natick Public Schools professional development program objective is to assist staff members in developing the knowledge and skills necessary to support personal and professional growth with a focus on increasing student achievement. Introduction: Natick Public Schools will support professional development opportunities, which are designed to improve organizational effectiveness and are focused on student achievement. Professional development may occur on a district, building, or personal level in several forms, including courses, workshops, study groups, and professional learning communities. Organization of professional development will follow the standards set forth by leaningforward, http://www.learningforward.org (formerly National Staff Development Council). The focus for professional development in today s schools must be on results every child making effective progress and demonstrating progress on local and state assessments. learningforward describes these expectations as a culture of the school that supports and expects adult learning to achieve student learning. State and federal guidelines support the work of a strong professional development plan, including that professional development must: improve teachers knowledge of the subjects which they teach; be an integral part of a school-wide educational improvement plan; give teachers and other school personnel the knowledge and skills they need to help students meet challenging standards; be high-quality, sustainable, intensive and classroom-focused to have a positive and lasting effect on classroom instruction and teachers performance; and advance teachers understandings of effective instructional strategies based on scientific research and align with and directly relate to academic content standards, achievement standards, and assessments. Standards for Professional Learning learningforward LEARNING COMMUNITIES: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students occurs within learning communities committed to continuous improvement, collective responsibility, and goal alignment. Professional learning within communities requires continuous improvement, promotes collective responsibility, and supports alignment of individual, team, school, and school system goals. Learning communities convene regularly and frequently during the workday to engage in collaborative professional learning to strengthen their practice and increase student results. Learning community members are accountable to one another to achieve
the shared goals of the school and school system and work in transparent, authentic settings that support their improvement. Engage in Continuous Improvement Learning communities apply a cycle of continuous improvement to engage in inquiry, action research, data analysis, planning, implementation, reflection, and evaluation. Characteristics of each application of the cycle of continuous improvement are: The use of data to determine student and educator learning needs; Identification of shared goals for student and educator learning; Professional learning to extend educators' knowledge of content, content-specific pedagogy, how students learn, and management of classroom environments; Selection and implementation of appropriate evidence-based strategies to achieve student and educator learning goals; Application of the learning with local support at the work site; Use of evidence to monitor and refine implementation; and Evaluation of results. LEADERSHIP: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students requires skillful leaders who develop capacity, advocate, and create support systems for professional learning. Leaders throughout the pre-k-12 education community recognize effective professional learning as a key strategy for supporting significant school and school system improvements to increase results for all students. Whether they lead from classrooms, schools, school systems, technical assistance agencies, professional associations, universities, or public agencies, leaders develop their own and others' capacity to learn and lead professional learning, advocate for it, provide support systems, and distribute leadership and responsibility for its effectiveness and results. RESOURCES: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students requires prioritizing, monitoring, and coordinating resources for educator learning. Effective professional learning requires human, fiscal, material, technology, and time resources to achieve student learning goals. How resources are allocated for professional learning can overcome inequities and achieve results for educators and students. The availability and allocation of resources for professional learning affect its quality and results. Understanding the resources associated with professional learning and actively and accurately tracking them facilitates better decisions about and increased quality and results of professional learning. DATA: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students uses a variety of sources and types of student, educator, and system data to plan, assess, and evaluate professional learning.
Data from multiple sources enrich decisions about professional learning that leads to increased results for every student. Multiple sources include both quantitative and qualitative data, such as common formative and summative assessments, performance assessments, observations, work samples, performance metrics, portfolios, and selfreports. The use of multiple sources of data offers a balanced and more comprehensive analysis of student, educator, and system performance than any single type or source of data can. However, data alone do little to inform decision making and increase effectiveness. Thorough analysis and ongoing use are essential for data to inform decisions about professional learning, as is support in the effective analysis and use of data. LEARNING DESIGNS: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students integrates theories, research, and models of human learning to achieve its intended outcomes. Integrating theories, research, and models of human learning into the planning and design of professional learning contributes to its effectiveness. Several factors influence decisions about learning designs, including the goals of the learning, characteristics of the learners, their comfort with the learning process and one another, their familiarity with the content, the magnitude of the expected change, educators' work environment, and resources available to support learning. The design of professional learning affects its quality and effectiveness. IMPLEMENTATION: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students applies research on change and sustains support for implementation of professional learning for long-term change. The primary goals for professional learning are changes in educator practice and increases in student learning. This is a process that occurs over time and requires support for implementation to embed the new learning into practices. Those responsible for professional learning apply findings from change process research to support long-term change in practice by extending learning over time. They integrate a variety of supports for individuals, teams, and schools. Finally, they integrate constructive feedback and reflection to support continuous improvement in practice that allows educators to move along a continuum from novice to expert through application of their professional learning. OUTCOMES: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students aligns its outcomes with educator performance and student curriculum standards. For all students to learn, educators and professional learning must be held to high standards. Professional learning that increases results for all students addresses the learning outcomes and performance expectations education systems designate for students and educators. When the content of professional learning integrates student
curriculum and educator performance standards, the link between educator learning and student learning becomes explicit, increasing the likelihood that professional learning contributes to increased student learning. When systems increase the stakes for students by demanding high, equitable outcomes, the stakes for professional learning increase as well.
Organization of Professional Development Natick Public Schools Professional development efforts will focus on improving the system as a whole and will assist the district in achieving the district-wide goals (please see Appendix A). The goal of professional development is to provide ongoing support or training to improve faculty and staff effectiveness and program quality. All professional development activities should align with state standards, be focused on the impact to student learning, and support continuous improvement of the delivery of district curriculum. The district will provide in service opportunities as well as in-house courses, workshops and study groups, which focus on content and pedagogy. Teachers will also be encouraged to attend professional development opportunities sponsored by: institutions with which the district partners, collaboratives or other identified organizations who offer high quality professional development, which supports our goals. Educators will also be encouraged to participate in professional learning communities comprised of colleagues within the building or across the district. District Responsibilities: The district will formulate a strategic plan of improvement, which identifies district goals for improving student performance and achievement. The strategic plan will be revised on a regular basis and be published and made available to all district employees and community members each year. The district will provide time and structures to facilitate, as much as possible, grade level / content teams to meet to interpret and analyze data to change classroom practice and to improve student performance. Through the interpretation of the data teachers will be better able to determine their needs for professional growth. The district will provide support for professional learning communities through resources and materials. The district will support new teachers by offering a comprehensive induction program. Teachers who are new to the field will be matched with a mentor teacher who has attended training to prepare for the role. New teachers will meet regularly with the mentors and participate in two peer conferencing experiences during the school year. In addition to the mentor program, new teachers attend an induction course, which focuses on issues and concerns relevant to teachers in the onset of their careers. Building / Principal Responsibilities: Each building principal will be an educational leader with the expectation of helping teachers in his or her building to grow professionally. Each building will have a School Improvement Plan (SIP) which aligns with the district goals and outlines improvement needs of the school. The building SIP should focus on improving measurable results in student achievement in order to guide the professional development needs of the building s staff. Principals will collaborate and create a professional learning community amongst their staff members.
Teacher Responsibilities: Each teacher who has a Professional license will create a professional growth plan (IPDP) per Human Resource department guidelines. Those teachers who have Temporary or Initial licensure will develop goals with principals as a component of the evaluation process. Teachers will be empowered to seek opportunities to meet personal growth needs and communicate needs to supervisor, principal and staff development specialist in order to inform professional development programming in the district. Teachers are encouraged to engage in collaborative, collegial conversation with grade level / content-based learning communities focused on activities which are: o Driven and measured by analysis of assessments o Job embedded o Collaborative and focused on helping teachers become deeply immersed in subject matter and teaching methods o Curriculum-centered and standards-based o Sustained, rigorous, and cumulative o Directly linked to what teachers do in their classrooms