Professional Development is Change Management

"School Improvement is about Change"

Whether a school has been identified as “Underperforming” or not is irrelevant. All schools must embrace change and growth if they are to meet the challenges of today’s world. Districts are bombarded with the questions and fears of the school staffs, and must respond proactively to prevent further performance issues. The way to mitigate change and embrace growth proactively is through professional development of the staff. Irrespective of federal and state mandates, professional development is an investment in school improvement.

When staff receives consistent, reinforced, applicable training, they are less afraid of change; they are encouraged and empowered to initiate, participate, and collaborate. Left alone, individuals fear change because they fear being redundant and expendable. The empowerment that accompanies professional development can bring about a radical change in the professional climate.

All programs and services provided by EdSmart combine research findings and best practices in ways that make sense to the stakeholders and are tailored to the school’s culture and the culture of the community

By retaining ownership of the process and product, the faculty maintains the sense of empowerment; it is they who make the choices and set the course. EdSmart facilitates change; we do not impose any paradigm or program. Furthermore, the support aspects of EdSmart’s programs ensure accountability and adherence to the choices that have been made. EdSmart can assist the site administration to assess programs and leverage the accountability to hold staff to the choices when the initial excitement has passed. It is during the secondary phase of implementation when support and reinforcement are paramount; else the initiative dies from a lack of energy.

EdSmart offers a wide-range of professional development services. Our professional development offerings are divided into two categories: administrative and instructional. The services may be configured in two programs: inservice and mentoring. Our clients may select any combination of category and program to accomplish their mission-critical goals.

 

Programs

Staff inservice includes single and ongoing training sessions for staff development. Depending on the topic, inservice programs can be configured as single sessions or they can be scheduled over a greater duration to provide the staff with smaller “bits” to assimilate and employ, or to reinforce concepts and strategies.

The decision on whether to use single or ongoing sessions will be determined in consultation with the district or school in each case. Where a topic cannot be compressed into a time-frame, the course material may be modified to meet the need.

Instructional programs are targeted at the classroom teacher and instructional aide. Where possible, all staff (including non-teaching staff) should be included. Many of the programs are developed to foster improved classroom management and collegial relationships, but also best-practices in instructional techniques are also available. Instruction programs are designed to dove-tail with the Administrative programs, ensuring that all members of the faculty are on the same page.

Administrative Mentoring

Administrative Mentoring is an excellent method of delivering complex personnel development, especially to site administration. This program provides an ongoing reinforcement of concept and process modification and gives the mentored personnel a greater degree of comfort and support during complex change. Research consistently demonstrates that radical or deep change will not occur if not accompanied by a reliable support-base.

Through on-site, telephone, and online assistance, the mentor will provide direct, intensive support to the principal and leadership team in carrying out the school’s action plan by identifying processes, strategies, and school improvement resources relevant to the school’s context; by providing support for faculty and leadership team meetings; by assisting in the design of effective professional development practices; and by providing support for the strengthening of school programs and structures. Mentor availability will be determined through discussion with individual sites

The Administration category is targeted at existing, and potential, school administrators. Each program is designed to help the administrator deal with the day-to-day issues that arise in today’s schools. This program can be tailored for a District-level administrator training program or at the site level for those administrators that are committed to effecting deep changes in their school

What Can We Do For You?

You can choose any combination of programs to best meet your needs. EdSmart will develop a unique package for each situation and present it to the site administration. In all cases, the District/School maintains ownership of the process except in some cases where either EdSmart or a third party holds copyrights to the material. Clients will be aware of what is copyright protected from the start.

What follows are programs that EdSmart has developed based on an analysis of the needs in schools today, and the best practices employed by effective schools. This is a comprehensive list, however, if you have a particular need, EdSmart will develop a program to meet it.
 

Program Offerings

6 ⁺1 Traits Writing: Overview
4 hours

This workshop provides an overview of each of the 6 ⁺1 traits and scoring rubrics. Connections are made to Arizona writing standards and AIMS writing requirements. Through the use of video and trait specific anchor papers, participants learn to identify each of the 6 ⁺ 1 writing traits.

6 ⁺1 Traits Writing: Assessment
8⁺ hours

This workshop is an extension of the overview workshop. In addition to the identification of the traits, participants learn to come to consensus in applying the Arizona state rubrics to the trait scoring process.

6 ⁺1 Traits Writing: Instruction
2⁺ hours

This workshop provides the participants with strategies to instruct students in the use of 6 ⁺ traits writing. Actual grade-level/school AIMS writing data are analyzed to identify strengths and weaknesses in the current application of traits.

Prerequisite: 6 ⁺ Traits Writing Overview or Assessment

Curriculum Mapping
2⁺ hours

The Curriculum Mapping workshop provides an overview of the curriculum mapping process through practical grade-specific examples. Actual grade-level SAT9 and AIMS data are used to drive the grade/school mapping process. A template is provided so that schools might proceed independently with the process.

English Learner Legislation
2⁺ hours

This workshop discusses federal and state requirements which guide English Learner instruction. Title III (formerly Title VII), ARS 15-751-756, and AZ Board Rule R7-2-306, as they impact English Learner programs, are described in detail.

English Learner Best Practices
2⁺ hours

This workshop discusses the stages of English Immersion and identifies research-based strategies that can be successfully implemented to assist English Learners in the regular (non-Bilingual, non-Immersion) classroom.

What Works in Schools: Research-based Practices that Increase Student Achievement
2⁺ hours

What Works in Schools identifies the research-based, school level, teacher level, and student-level factors that impact positively on student achievement. Based on thirty-five years of research, specific and attainable action steps are identified which, when implemented, will dramatically increase student achievement.

Creating Collaborative Cultures
4 hours

In this workshop collaboration, as it relates to school environments, will be discussed. Participants will engage in an exercise to identify how they relate to change. Group norms and behavioral expectations will be developed. Participants will also be guided through the process of conducting meetings, assembling agendas, and producing meeting minutes.

Developing Professional Learning Communities
2⁺ hours

This workshop is an introductory overview into the concepts, requirements, and steps in transforming their school from a traditional instructional facility into a professional learning community. Participants will explore the differences, advantages, and challenges faced in implementing this proven evolutionary step in student learning.

Classroom Friendly Rubrics
2⁺ hours

This workshop will assist the participants in developing a myriad of rubrics for use in everyday classroom instruction and assessment. From homework to effort to actual assessments, rubric examples will be offered and workshop participants will be guided to develop rubrics that meet their individual classroom needs.

Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement
2⁺ hours

This workshop provides an overview of thirty years of accumulated research that provides highly consistent answers to the question of what types of instructional strategies work best to improve student achievement. These strategies can be applied to all types of content, at all grade levels, with all types of students.

Building Capacity for Family Involvement
2⁺ hours

This workshop examines Epstein’s Six Types of Parental Involvement and provides sample activities that can easily be implemented on-site which has been proven to dramatically increase parental involvement of English speaking and Bilingual parents.

Writing Award Winning Grants
2⁺ hours

No longer is grant writing merely an exercise in creative writing. In this workshop participants will explore the steps to successfully acquiring funding for their programs. Examples of successful grants, new legislative requirements, and writing techniques will be presented.

Using Data to Drive Instruction
2⁺ hours

In this workshop participants will discover how to effectively convert the mountain of data available into usable information. Using their real-time data, participants will learn to use the information gleaned from the data to improve, modify or strengthen their daily instructional practices.

Managing Change
3⁺ hours

Change can be a frightening thing. It is, however, the universal constant in today’s world. In this workshop faculty and administration will explore the process of change, its different manifestations, and the symptoms related to the fear of change. Exercises and discussion will assist the participants in realizing how they react to change, how they can confidently embrace change, and how their own personalities can help or hinder the change process.

Re-designing Reform: Practical Strategies from Dramatically Improved Schools
2⁺ hours

This workshop identifies schools that have achieved national recognition because of their dramatic increases in student achievement. Practical strategies that were used to dramatically improve student achievement results will be outlined in detail.

Implementing Arizona State Standards
3⁺ hours

The participants will identify the Standards Based Instructional Process and implement the process by developing a lesson plan. The lesson plan includes curriculum, assessment, instruction and reporting. The emphasis is therefore on instruction, once the other pieces are in place. The 3 hour training is an awareness training, whereas the 5-6 hour training includes more of the implementation/practice.