In this discussion on Leadership and Education Model Shifts, you’ll find quite a few new ideas, along with some well-tested ideas on professional learning. One thing is certain, however, there has never been a more important time for sound strategy in professional development. According to Tina Smith, Director of Professional Learning at Clarksville-Montgomery County School System, “Throughout the course of the 2020 school year, our educators took advantage of over 135,000 hours of learning that year. That equates to around 50 hours per certified employee in our districts and our classified employees. We're also receiving professional learning, getting around 11 hours each there; we were already dabbling in online learning within the 2020 school year. We were recognizing the need to meet learners exactly where they were. Professional learning opportunities online for us tended to be short segments of learning to introduce new concepts.”
Nikki Lavigne, the New Teacher Induction Coordinator at Clarksville-Montgomery County School System explained that the district had a needed focus on new hires. “We actually onboarded 387 new teachers that year, onboarding and district orientation of course took place in person. And then additionally, late hires and team TSS attended late hire district orientation. And that typically occurred in larger groups throughout the school year. A couple of days, or even a few weeks after onboarding took place, substitutes were provided for new hire students in that full day of learning. Um, during that school day and during the school years, new teachers received ongoing professional learning. Typically, that occurred in person with their building level mentor that was focused on classroom management and explicit instructional strategies. The induction team connected with mentors and new teachers primarily through school visits. So almost everything we did, all our touch points work, were in-person.
Tracey Hoover, Instructional Technology Coordinator for the district focused on the technology training. “The instructional technology department in Clarksville, Montgomery County really consists of 12 technology integration coaches that support all our schools. And that includes all our administrators, all teachers, all district leaders and employees in anything instructional technology related. To give you just a snippet of what was going on, they did lots of lead teacher trainings. So they were working with teachers on content building as well as blended learning.
“Most importantly to me,” said Hoover, “and close to my heart is that they did over 2000 individual instruction sessions. That's where a teacher would request that they sit down with them one-on-one and help them with whatever they needed help with, whether it was planning and designing a lesson, how to use the tool, any number of things, but it's that real on time right now learning that teachers needed one-on-one and it really just doesn't get any more personalized than that for my team.”
This discussion can serve as a model for proper professional development. You’ll want to take plenty of notes; this is a guide for every school district in America.
