School Type: Public	School Setting: Rural
Level: Elementary	School Design: Traditional
Content Presented By:
National Awards Program for Model Professional Development

Summary

The practice: Professional development should provide learning opportunities that relate to individual needs but are, for the most part, organized around collaborative problem solving.

• All teachers divide into grade-level and subject teams
• Grade-level teams meet weekly to share ideas and visit each others' classrooms
• Subject-level teams meet monthly to structure and monitor the progress of the school-wide initiatives
• The percentage of third graders mastering all objectives of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test increased from 30% to 48% in one year.

At H. D. Hilley Elementary School in rural West Texas, collaboration is a way of life not only for the staff, but for the entire community. H. D. Hilley has developed an organizational structure that results in ongoing problem solving and action planning.

Organized in both vertical and horizontal teams, and a community-wide school improvement team that includes parents as well as staff members, the stakeholders have multiple opportunities to identify and solve problems related to student learning and school success. The School Improvement Team meets monthly to structure, monitor, and assess school-wide initiatives in response to student needs. Vertical teams are centered around the curricular areas of Communication, Math and Science, Fine Arts, and Technology. These teams meet monthly and are responsible for designing, coordinating, and evaluating professional development in their respective areas. Grade level teams meet weekly to discuss student work and suggest ways to address individual learning problems. Teachers frequently offer to support and coach each other as a result of these weekly meetings. They share their expertise for the benefit of all students.

Through frequent communication and sharing student work and assessment results, teachers are proactive in preventing students from falling behind, identifying potential problems, and maintaining the focus on students' academic success.

This site also exemplifies the following practice(s):

• Professional development should involve teachers in the identification of what they need to learn and in the development of the learning experiences in which they will be involved.  

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This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu