Palm Beach County Schools Staff Development

This is a case where thinking with the end in mind is important. How does your program align with the State Goals, District Goals, and District Key Results? Documentation of your program needs to focus on the transfer into the classroom, student changes, and use of results. When completing the Component Evaluation use explicit results of the impact of your program.

Monitoring or keeping track of your professional development program is part of your responsibility as a session coordinator. Keep a copy of your professional development records for a period of five years. Keep in mind that many participants use professional development inserice trainings to renew their teaching certificates and if there were ever a discrepancy we woudl need verification from your files.

Delivery is crucial in professional development. The appropriate delivery for the content is vital to the mastery of the objectives of the planned professional developmnet. Sustained training is what needs to happen. We need to be offering trainings to support our professional development programs and shy away from 1 day workshops with out continuous support.

The purpose of the PD Team is to ensure professional development opportunities are relevant, meet a need, and result in follow-up that positively impacts job performance and/or student achievement. As a PD Team it is important to establish who will be responsible for professional development tasks. In addition, group norms are important so everyone has a clear understanding of what is expected within the group.

When planning for professional development there are many things to consider. A good place to start is your School Improvement Plan. Here you will find the goals and objectives specific to your school. Also, consider the unique needs of your teachers. It is important to involve teachers with planning for professional development.