Posted by:
Russell Antracoli
Building admin/coordinator
Gustine, CA

Topic:
Staff Development

Message:

There needs to be a clear and desired need and awareness that staff development, continous and on going is at the heart of educational reform and school improvement. Too often people outside the educational realm see days off for staff development as not productive because there are not any children on campus. We has educators must first begin to dialogue with the community so that they can begin to understand why professional development is so vital. I like to tell noneducators that one of the primary factors in companies like IBM and Microsoft being successful is professional development on a weekly basis. These professionals work collaboratively always trying to improve their product. They meet, they discuss, they work out problems, and they learn. Once this concept is a part of the fabric of the community the serious work of organization and creation of valid staff development plans can begin.

As a start, Secretary of Education Richard Riley has proposed a novel idea that has great merit in developing the framework for continous staff development. The old teacher work paradigm, 9 months on 3 months off, or even year around schedules that base the teacher work year at around 185 days needs to change. Riley suggest that teachers work for eleven months, with one month off (this would still include the more traditional vacations andholidays inside the year). The additional time can be used for professional development or teachers working with students that need additional assistance. In fact, the staff development and remediation formats can provide a labatory for educational reform. Dr. Riley also suggest that in order for this to be done teacher salary will have to be increased significally with the new work load. This format makes sense and needs to become a focal point for not only staff development, but also educational reform.

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