9. THEN NOW

10.  Historic approach had been to pull groups of teachers together for whole group/single topic discussions. ◦ District level determination ◦ Sit ‘n get, or make-it-take-it, sometimes work or project based ◦ Stand alone events, often with little or no follow-up ◦ Never differentiated ◦ Little to no teacher choice ◦ Little intentional alignment to school SIP needs or individual teacher growth

11.  What changed ◦ Common Core: new standards, new expectations for how we teach ◦ New teacher evaluation instrument emphasizing student and teacher growth ◦ A recession: fewer people at central office, less money for travel reimbursement and conferences etc.

12.  Teacher survey in winter of 2013 indicated strong desire to have choice, follow-up and flexibility in where/when/how PD was conducted.  Middle school teachers participated in a small test pilot of what blended learning could look like. ◦ 4 topics developed from teacher interest surveys ◦ 1 online meeting held in January to provide background knowledge and front load information ◦ Face to face seminars held two months later to follow up, provide for face-to-face conversations and practice, and discuss implementation successes and obstacles

13.  Feedback just prior to summer indicated a significant preference to continue.  Conversations among school and district leaders lead to creation of a new Professional Development approach.

14.  Goals: 1)Focus on creating small group, self guided cohorts working on a single year long topic 2)Align district PD with school SIP needs and individual teacher growth needs with an emphasis on instructional strategies 3)Assess teacher professional development alongside student achievement outcomes

15.  Structure ◦ List of possible topics created from teacher surveys and known districtwide needs ◦ School based curriculum coaches, district lead teacher and Director worked as facilitators ◦ Each cohort designed the actual PD plan for their cohort using a template given to them.

17.  The virtual side ◦ Online meeting software ◦ Teacher collaboration sites – EdmodoEdmodo ◦ Should be interactive  The personal side ◦ Professional Development day meetings ◦ Out of district school/classroom visits ◦ In district school/classroom visits

18.  Program evaluation ◦ Teacher survey ◦ Student performance ◦ Learning goals established by cohorts

19.  The virtual side ◦ Topic specific sites – Google SitesGoogle Sites ◦ Time released materials ◦ Balance research and practice  The personal side ◦ PLC needs assessment ◦ Faculty discussion ◦ Publication of artifacts

20.  Changes in roles of curriculum coaches  Over estimated the degree of teacher ability with online resources  Realized the need for greater regularity of feedback and reflection  Administrator involvement in determining topic selection

21.  Teacher feedback ◦ 75% liked the teacher choice ◦ 90% liked or definitely wanted to continue single year long topics ◦ 97% liked the flexibility of connecting to PD from their building ◦ 80% said using online meeting software was pretty easy ◦ 78% indicated PD was aligned to their growth goals ◦ 82% indicated they were using the PD in their classroom

22.  Teacher Accountability  Sharing of experiences across schools