You are here

Guidelines About Professional Development By Paramount Training

If you're a teacher looking to improve your skills, you need to align your personal professional development plan with school or district goals. For example, if you're teaching math in elementary school, your professional development plan should include activities to improve your math skills, and they should tie to the progress of your students. Here are some guidelines for creating your personal professional development plan. You can also use this information to write a grant application for a grant to pay for professional development.
 
Plan should be aligned with school or district goals
Developing a district-wide professional development plan involves engaging all staff members in planning professional learning activities. The plan should include common professional learning goals for all employees and subgroups of staff. In addition, the district's professional development plan should identify opportunities for collaboration, in-house expertise, and collaborative teams. The district's strategic plan should also include the goals of individual staff members. To ensure alignment, the district should be clear about the goals and objectives for each PD activity.
Setting school or district goals for professional development should be based on identified learning needs of students. The goals must be aligned with student academic targets. These results can be measured using standardized tests and other assessment tools. In addition to the state or district goals, the goals must be aligned with the educational needs of member districts. For example, if the goals of the school or district are aligned with a particular framework, the district should include the Frameworks as a basis for the professional development activities.
 
It should be reviewed with supervisors
As a manager, your responsibilities for supporting professional development are clear. You are responsible for assessing the needs of your direct reporting employees, encouraging them to take on relevant learning experiences, and approving and funding such experiences. You should review and approve all requests for professional development opportunities, and make sure you discuss each employee's involvement in each activity with your supervisor. There are many reasons to be involved in professional development, and these include increased duties and responsibilities, improving job performance, and future career goals.
 
It must be approved by a supervisor within 30 days
School leaders must meet the same requirements for their professional development as principals. This includes all administrators with chief school administrator, principal, or supervisor endorsements. A director of curriculum who holds a supervisor certification would also be covered by the guidelines. These requirements must be communicated and approved by a supervisor within 30 days of the appointment. If a supervisor approves the guidelines within 30 days, the requirements are enforceable.
 
It must be reviewed with department head
A department head must review the guidelines about professional development with an employee before they can take time off work for such activities. While not everyone will qualify for these leaves, those in regular status with satisfactory performance are eligible for 80 hours of non-exempt release time each year and 10 workdays of exempt leave each year. The department head must approve such leave requests, subject to budget, scheduling, staffing, and other related considerations.