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Posted by:
Sally Harrison
K-12 Classroom teacher
Lynnwood, WA
Topic:
Sally Harrison's Position Statement
Message:
In our Trust Agreement, a symbol of our collaborative work between the District and the education association, we articulate common needs and benefits. In this agreement, we jointly identify both a need for and a benefit in linking professional development with teacher evaluation and compensation. A Joint Edmonds Education Association-District Professional Excellence Committee was formed to focus on the three interdependent strands of teacher evaluation, teacher compensation, and a professional development system that provides support for teacher growth.
The Professional Growth and Assessment Process (PGAP) is an annual, growth-oriented, employee-centered process that encourages peer collaboration and includes self-reflection, self-assessment, and goal setting that aligns with District and building/program goals to increase student achievement. We have developed an Edmonds School District Professional Standards for Teaching Continuum, based on the National Board Standards, as a tool to assist teachers in annual goal setting. At least two of the recommended three to four goals must contribute to the attainment of the building/program goals and at least one activity for each of those two goals needs to involve collegial collaboration.
The professional development system is then responsive to the needs identified by teachers in their self-appraisal goal-setting process and by buildings/programs as they determine learning goals. In addition, a two-year teacher induction program supports both teachers new to the profession, as well as teachers new to Edmonds. Several foundation modules which explore standards-based instruction, reporting to parents, and use of data form a core that provides a common language across the schools.
Most of the staff learning time, however, is viewed as job-embedded and determined through a shared decision making process in each building. The non-student and early release days are designed by buildings to provide teachers time to work together in teams to examine student work, create problem-based units of study, map curriculum, or explore more deeply their content area and the instructional methods that provide support to diverse student needs.
The District, when approached by buildings with common needs, organizes common learning experiences, generally in content areas, bringing in outside experts or, just as often, using teacher leaders within the district. Often, one of the four K-12 feeder pathways will organize learning opportunities that provide dialogue time among elementary, middle, and high school levels. Each building has a learning team or building leadership team which serves to (1) hold together a picture of all of the pieces in the reform initiatives, (2) provide feedback to the District, and (3) conduct action research linked to improving student learning. The District's Superintendent's Staff visits each site, sitting down with a team from each building to discuss the school's data, the school's goals to improve student learning, and then visits classrooms to observe first-hand the work the school staff has designed to engage students in the learning process.
This picture of professional learning has emerged from my thinking about professional development as our commitment to insuring that the teaching profession continues to focus on student engagement as a means to improve student learning. Most of the "teachable moments" for us, the adult learner, occur when we are engaged in the work of teaching. We're most ready to learn when we run into something that doesn't work (i.e., a student learning need for which, in our vast repertoire, we don't have a solution) or when we become aware that the context in which we're working needs to change in response to the changing world in which our education system exists. Time for reflection, for inquiry, for challenging each other, and the effectiveness of what we do, in terms of how that works for students, is critical.
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