The PD Council had a very productive meeting in December 2005 addressing issues related to the PD applications we have received in this past application period.  We’ve determined that we need to spend even more time going over the process and perhaps make some alterations to the application itself.  However, before this is done, I wanted to give people some insight into how applications are evaluated by the council.

Essentially, there are five sections on the application that align with the rubric: School Initiatives, Professional Goals, Learning, Assessment of Learning and Collaboration.  Each section has a possible score from 0 to 3 points for a grand total of 15 when all sections are totaled together.

School Initiatives – This section asks how the activity being applied for contributes to the school’s strategic action plans or other initiatives.  (Be careful not to confuse the strategic plan and initiatives with the 15 teaching standards).  In order to score full points on this section, an application MUST relate directly (by name and number) to a strategic action plan.  If no mention of the strategic plan is made, no points can be awarded.  Poor scores on this section usually occur from vague and general statements about how this activity will “help the school” or “increase my knowledge of” or other admirable, but ultimately inappropriate statements with no relation to the strategic plan.

Here’s a good example (scored the full 3 points) from an application from a few years ago (remember, this is using the old strategic action plan):

Strategy 1.4 – Curriculum and Assessment: The key topics of this conference (see above) address using student achievement data/results from school assessments to identify the greatest areas of student learning needs, thereby informing educator professional development needs.

Strategy 2.4 – Professional Development: Again, the key topics of this conference (see above) address using student achievement data/results from school assessments to inform educator professional development needs, as specifically stated in Strategy 2.4.4 – “Establish a process of using evaluation results of student learning and professional performance as a basis for formulating professional development activities.”

Strategy 7 – Learning Community: The key topics of this conference (see above) will support various learning community initiatives as described in Strategy 7, including:

·         Learning Community Council as a school-wide leadership group that monitors school-wide learning (7.1)
·         Leadership development (7.2-7.3)
·         Goal-setting for teams, divisions and the school (7.2, 7.3)·         Team and divisional planning retreats (7.4)

Professional Goals – This section asks how this activity will support the applicant in reaching their individual, team and/or divisional student learning goals.  In order to score full points on this section, an application MUST explicitly state the goal that has been set down by the applicant, in consultation with his or her department head and supervising administrator.  If this is not included, then the application MUST explicitly state the goal that has been decided upon by the department and submitted to the divisional head.  Poor scores on this section usually make no mention of goals or reference educational ideals rather than explicit goals that have been decided upon through the annual goal setting process.  All teachers are assumed to have many things they are interested in improving and learning more about, however, only the specific goal determined by you and your department head/divisional head counts in this section.

The other major aspect of this is that you link to student learning goals.  To get the full 3 points, you must link to student learning.  Adult learning goals only get you 2 points and that assumes they are directly relevant to your position.  Claiming that you’ve always wanted to learn more about technology is neither an explicit individual goal nor is it a student learning goal.  At best, such a claim would get 1 point but would likely score a zero.

Here’s a good example (scored the full 3 points) from an application from a few years ago

Individual Goal (2001-2002)

~ To pilot strategies that effectively integrate all the Music Content Standards into MS/US band program teaching practice

LS Music Divisional Goal (2002-2003)

~ Complete the Unit Plans for the 3^rd and 4^th Grade Orff programs. The course will directly provide us with materials and curriculum ideas that will assist in completing this task

Learning – This section asks how this activity will impact student learning and/or adult learning.  Direct links to student learning earn 3 points while direct links to adult learning earn 2 points.  If learning is only outlined or has a limited impact, 1 point is awarded and if it is unclear what learning will occur or if it has a minimal impact to one’s position at TAS, then a zero is awarded.  Failure to score highly in this category usually arises because the statements made are vague generalizations along the lines of “there are many things I could learn at this workshop/conference to share with my students to help them learn more about (insert subject discipline here).”

A good example of student learning outlined for full credit is:

Student learning will be impacted in two ways; the most evident student learning will be seen in writing samples when compared to last year’s writing samples. The children will be including more adjectives, descriptions and word choice.  Secondly, their vocabulary will be increasing and their oral language will become better developed as determined by classroom observation. Students in K-2 will be impacted due to collaboration at an early childhood meeting.

A good example of adult learning is:

TAS values the need for teachers to remain current in teaching pedagogies, current educational trends and philosophies. This conference obviously offers us the opportunity for personal growth in these areas, but additionally it offers us as aesthetic educators the opportunity for renewal as musicians. This conference is a unique opportunity for the making of music thus during the conference we as educators will experience the teaching of all of the above Standards through participatory sessions. We will be experiencing the same fears, joys, and challenges that our students are faced with daily in our music classrooms.  It is imperative that we be reminded of these issues that confront music students.

This conference is residential and thus even when the sessions stop the collaboration and sharing of ideas continues. Late into the evening the music educators of varying nationalities share cultural songs, traditions, music and dances thus extending the professional development in both the formal and informal settings.  Additionally the conference takes place in Salzburg, Austria, which is the birthplace of Mozart and the Classical music tradition. The cultural opportunities offered by this wonderful city only enhance ones learning as a musician and educator and provide relevance in the education of our students though our understandings of the society and culture where these traditions originated. 

The renewal as teachers, as musicians and as world citizens can only add to our Adult education and enhance our effectiveness within the K-12 TAS community.

Assessment of Learning – This section asks how will you know if this activity has had an impact on student and/or adult learning.  I have to admit that this is the most difficult part of the application in my estimation as it really requires one to consider what evidence of impact is possible.  The philosophical rationale behind this is first, to make sure that someone has thought about the possible impact on their classroom BEFORE going off and secondly, to ensure some degree of evaluation of the cost/benefit of these events.  Not to propose a business model for education, but I don’t think there is any company in the world which would offer an employee thousands of dollars and not have any clue how this money is going to help the company achieve its goals. 

Some good examples of this are:

Student writing will be analyzed and compared to last year’s writing samples as evidence of the improvement of word choice, organization, ideas, sentence fluency, conventions and voice.  Class observations during discussions and meetings will allow me to assess oral language development.

OR

Integration of I.T activities and assessments in Rubicon Atlas.

Student work samples – i.e: tracking of digital portfolios (2 students per grade)

Collaboration – This section asks how you plan to extend your learning from this activity to others in order to maximize the potential benefits to student learning.  Really, this is seeking to formalize plans to share what you’ve learned with others so that the impact of the experience for you can be somewhat extended and shared by others.  What the rubric demands here are clearly defined plans to collaborate with team/department and in other areas or divisions of the school.  In order to get the full 3 points for this section, it must be explicitly stated when, where, and with whom the team/department sharing will occur.  In addition, how will cross discipline or cross divisional sharing occur?

The most common failings in this category come from vague generalizations along the lines of “I will be happy to share whatever material and ideas I learn with my colleagues.”  This gets 1 point at best.

A good example would be:

Presentation of key findings to K-12 Life Skills group at Oct 21 department meeting. On meeting with my Lower school PE colleagues on October 13, I will recommend the implementation of these strategies and assessment tasks into our curriculum this year to initially fill any gaps that remain. 

As of today (8/27/04) I have discussed the benefits with my colleagues, of attending this conference and we have agreed to collaborate on my return to implement any teaching strategies and/or tried and proven assessment tasks that will complement and supplement what we have begun to develop and implement in our curriculum this year.