Indicator 4.1 – Eastern Middle School - DEMO
Professional development has a direct, positive effect on teaching.
| May 23, 2011 |
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| September 18, 2012 |
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This indicator examines whether your professional development program has had an impact on the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes of the entire staff. Specifically, it assesses how well the professional development program has helped teachers deepen their understanding of subject matter, make appropriate changes, understand individual differences, and align teaching with local or district standards.
Discussion Questions
- How does your school's professional development address the most important needs at your school?
- In what ways is professional development helping you achieve your school's goals?
Activity
- Form study groups among the staff. Work with staff to establish regular meeting times and topics for discussion identified from the discussion questions. Staff can rotate leadership in the study groups. The leader's role may include:
- Selecting common reading and making it available to group members before the meeting.
- Structuring the discussion by preparing a question or problem.
- Facilitating the discussion.
- Ensuring that a member of the group takes notes and distributes them to the entire staff.
- Leading a discussion to determine the direction of the next meeting.
Learn More
This indicator is related to the School culture and organization nourishing a culture of reflection and collaborative inquiry section of the Next Steps resources.
Survey Questions for Indicator 4.1
Please indicate how accurately each statement describes your own PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCES over the past 12 months:
- Q40F: Have improved my understanding of curriculum standards.
- Q40G: Have improved my understanding of student performance standards.
- Q40H: Addressed the needs of the students in my classroom.
- Q40I: Helped me understand my students better.
- Q40J: Deepened my understanding of subject matter.
- Q40K: Led me to make changes in my teaching.
- Q40L: Helped me align my teaching with district or state standards.