Terri L. Breeden, Ed. D. October 11, 2006

My charge tonight: 1. Explore the issue of training for both special education and general education teachers and aides and others who may work with children and parents 2. Address whether the training should be mandatory. Terri L. Breeden, Ed. D. October 11, 2006

My Vision for Staff Development The goal of staff development is to raise student achievement. Any other benefits that comes out of it are secondary.

Building Engaged School by Gary Gordon Student Achievement Goals ACADEMICS All students will obtain, understand, analyze, communicate, and apply knowledge and skills to achieve success in school and in life. Students will achieve their full academic potential in the core disciplines.

Building Engaged School by Gary Gordon Whatever your perspective on improving America’s schools, educational excellence relies more on the talent and the engagement levels of the people within an individual school than on any other factor.

Building Engaged School by Gary Gordon Identifying and leveraging the underutilized talents of students, teachers, support staff, and principals should be the first consideration in improving outcomes for students.

What Raises Student Achievement? Competent, Caring, Qualified Teachers in Schools Organized for Success.

What Raises Student Achievement? Think for a minute about the best teacher you ever had. What did this teacher do to make you remember him or her as special? List words that describe this teacher.

3 Qualities all Teachers Must Possess Knowledge –Knowledge can come from life experience. –Knowledge can come from the learning process. –Knowledge refers in part to the various objective facts associated with a content area.

3 Qualities all Teachers Must Possess Knowledge No teacher can effectively teach materials that he/she doesn’t know well. Some knowledgeable teachers are not gifted at synthesizing and communicating the knowledge. The fallacy is that knowledge is enough.

All I Really Need to Know About Quality Teachers, I Learned from Steve Skills –Great teachers have a diverse repertoire of acquired instructional techniques. –Skills may prevent failure, but they can’t move teachers from average to outstanding.

All I Really Need to Know About Quality Teachers, I Learned from Steve Talents- Talents are the “intangibles” that lead certain people to perform better than others with similar backgrounds.

All I Really Need to Know About Quality Teachers, I Learned from Steve Talents- It’s a common misconception that the accumulation of knowledge and skills can compensate for the lack of talent. Nothing can compensate for the lack of talent.

All I Really Need to Know About Quality Teachers, I Learned from Steve A common pitfall is that we can fix weaknesses. This is based on the ideas that adding more and more knowledge and skills can make an outstanding performer out of anyone in any role.

What Raises Student Achievement? List words that describe your best teacher. By your list – Put a “K” by things that demonstrate KNOWLEDGE. Put a “S” by things that demonstrate SKILL Put a “T” by things that demonstrate TALENT What did you find?

What Raises Student Achievement? So What about Professional Development? If a teacher lacks knowledge what can we do? If a teacher lacks skills what can we do? If a teacher seems to lack talent what can we do?

What Raises Student Achievement? The teachers you listed were not cookie cutters of each other. All the teachers are similar in one respect – they leverage their natural talents.

What can we do? Use different designs of Professional Development. –Standard Workshop- Large group instruction –Mentoring- A relationship with another seasoned educator

What can we do? Use different designs of Professional Development. Coach – assessing students needs, modeling good practice with students,reflecting and sharing the craft of teaching.

What can we do? Use different designs of Professional Development. -Classroom Walkthroughs – The purpose is to view the entire school and then reflect on what was occurring. -Critical Friends- Talk in depth about student work or professional dilemmas.

My charge tonight: 1. Explore the issue of training for both special education and general education teachers and aides and others who may work with children and parents 2. Address whether the training should be mandatory. Terri L. Breeden, Ed. D. October 11, 2006

What PLT is Working On Analyze FCPS offerings to determine the appropriateness of present training. More embedded--- less spray and pray!

What PLT is Working On- Evaluation Continuum of Professional Outcomes* Awareness of information Deep understanding of information Capability for implementation Mechanical implementation Refined & Routine implementation Results for students * Adapted from NSDC

What PLT is Working On- Evaluation Continuum of Professional Outcomes* Awareness of information Deep understanding of information Capability for implementation Mechanical implementation Refined & Routine implementation Results for students * Adapted from NSDC Spray and Pray

What PLT is Working On-Evaluation Continuum of Professional Outcomes* Awareness of information Deep understanding of information Capability for implementation Mechanical implementation Refined & Routine implementation Results for students * Adapted from NSCD Evaluation

What PLT is Working On - Evaluation Continuum of Professional Outcomes* Awareness of information Deep understanding of information Capability for implementation Mechanical implementation Refined & Routine implementation Results for students * Adapted from NSCD Evaluation

What PLT is Working On - Budget Determine personnel and budget for PLT to operate effectively and efficiently.

What PLT is Working On - Structure Develop a structure (using a liaison system) with all FCPS departments (Superintendents office, Accountability, Facilities and Transportation, Financial Services, IT, HR, Special Services, Instructional Services, and Cluster offices) to meet staff development needs of FCPS.

What PLT is Working On - Tools Lead effort to implement software tool to manage PLT in FCPS. Mission Critical

Mandatory Training Just some thing to think about: –Who decides what is mandatory? For which teachers? –Can we track it? Can we manage it? –How do we know who needs it? –How do we know if it is effective? Terri L. Breeden, Ed. D. October 11, 2006

And finally All learning begins when our comfortable ideas turn out to be inadequate. -John Dewey