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Geneva City School District,
Geneva, NY
School Type: Public
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School Setting: Rural
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Level: K-12
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School Design: Traditional
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Content Presented By:
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National Awards Program for Model Professional Development
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Design and Implementation
- Financial Support. The district requires forty-five hours of professional development for each staff member, and it commits to support this requirement with quality programs aimed to increase student achievement. Based on the decisions of the Administrative Council and input from teachers, the district invests 2% of its budget in professional development. The funds support training by experts, peer coaching, semi-monthly study groups, group reflection on practices, and release-time and summer training sessions. These district programs, which incorporate conversations among teachers, model the culture of teaching and learning they hope to replicate in the individual schools.
- Proven Links to Student Improvement. Before a professional development program is adopted or endorsed by the district, the program must be proven to align with the district standards and demonstrate that it produces results. For example, a program for grades 1-5 was planned and piloted for over two years, and after the school psychologist found that the students involved in the program had higher academic gains than the control group, the district adopted it. On the other hand, after extensive review, one pre-first grade program tested did not meet its intended goals, and was dropped.
- Teacher-driven improvement programs. Grade level and content-area teams, which include teachers in the district, regularly work together writing curriculum, developing benchmarks, creating interdisciplinary units, and developing strategies to meet the needs of students who have difficulties.
NOTE: For tips on how this design can be replicated, select "Replication Details" from the menu.
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