Special thanks and acknowledgments go to the professionals in our district who diligently contribute daily to the successful achievement of the students in the Deer/Mt Judea School District. It is through their professional collaborative contributions, their out-of-the-box thinking, committed focus, and an improved professional development model that student achievement and teacher effectiveness will increase even more.

 

NSDC's (National Staff Development Council)

Standards for Staff Development

Context Standards

Staff development that improves the learning of all students:

• Organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district. (Learning Communities)
• Requires skillful school and district leaders who guide continuous instructional improvement. (Leadership)
• Requires resources to support adult learning and collaboration. (Resources)

Process Standards

Staff development that improves the learning of all students:

• Uses disaggregated student data to determine adult learning priorities, monitor progress, and help sustain continuous improvement. (Data-Driven)
• Uses multiple sources of information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impact. (Evaluation)
• Prepares educators to apply research to decision making. (Research-Based)
• Uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal. (Design)
• Applies knowledge about human learning and change. (Learning)
• Provides educators with the knowledge and skills to collaborate. (Collaboration)

Content Standards

Staff development that improves the learning of all students:

• Prepares educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement. (Equity)
• Deepens educators' content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately. (Quality Teaching)
• Provides educators with knowledge and skills to involve families and other stakeholders appropriately. (Family Involvement)

                                            MANDATED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

No. of Hours Of Professional Development Required	Who		For What Reason		Authority		Comments
60	Teachers		Required per school year between June 1 and May 31		ACT 59 of 2003 and Rules Governing PD 4.01   6/05		A minimum of 6 hours of technology shall be included in the 60 hours
60	Administrators		Required per school year between June 1 and May 31		ACT 59 of 2003 and Rules Governing PD 4.01  6/05		A minimum of 6 hours of technology shall be included in the 60 hours
2	Teachers		Parent/ Guardian Involvement		ACT 603 of 2003 (A.C.A. 6/15/1601) and Rules Governing PD 4.03.3   6/05		Shall be included in the 60 hours noted above
3	Administrators		Parent/ Guardian Involvement		ACT 603 of 2003 (A.C.A. 6/15/1601) and Rules Governing Prof. Dev.  4.03.3  6/05		Shall be included in the 60 hours noted above
2	Teachers who offer instruction in AR History		Arkansas History		Act 2095 of 2005 and Rules Governing Prof. Dev.  4.03.2   6/05		Shall be included in the 60 hours noted above
As Appropriate	Teachers who offer instruction in Pre-AP & AP & IB		Pre AP/AP/IB Courses		ACT 2131 of 2005		Shall be included in the 60 hours noted above (up to 30 hours)
As Appropriate	Administrators		Leadership, Fiscal, and Data Dis-aggregation		ADE Rules Governing Prof. Dev. 4.03.4		Shall be included in the 60 hours noted above
As Appropriate	Teachers, Administrators and Classified Employees, Volunteers		Student Discipline/ Classroom Management		A.C.A. 6-18-502		Specific hours note mandated by Statute
As Appropriate	Teachers, Administrators		Health and Physical Activity		ACT 1220 of 2003		Shall be included in the 60 hours noted above
As Appropriate	Teacher, Administrators		automated external defibrillators		A. C.A. § 6-10-122, 123		Shall be included in the 60 hours noted above

 
 

Professional Development

2009-10 Guidelines

 

REQUIRED PD SESSIONS

All teachers and administrators will be required to obtain 60 hours of in-service for the 2009-10 school year.  Effective 2009-10, teachers and administrators will begin to earn their 60 hours in a more focused and outlined way during the instructional/contractual time and days that are provided to them. The reporting period will be July 1st through June 30th.

REQUIRED PD DAYS

The district will offer 5 required days at the beginning the 2009-10 school year (Aug. 4, 5, 6 =12 hrs.; Aug. 11, 12, 13 = 18 hours) and 4 other required days throughout the year (Oct 19: 6 hrs.; Jan. 4: 6 hrs.; March 19:  6 hrs., May 27, 6 hrs) which will afford teachers and administrators the opportunity to earn 54 of the required 60.  In addition the district will offer 2 three-hour professional development sessions on two Teacher Record Days (September 24, 2009: 3 hr; February 4, 2010: 3 hr) affording teachers the opportunity to earn 6 more hours, now totaling 60 district-sponsored hours.

 

SPECIAL NOTE:

In accordance to Act 1185 of 2005, teachers may earn up to 12 hours in professional development for engaging in curricular and instructional activities with the approval of the principal on the activities to be completed on August 4 & 5. In addition, teachers should note that the principal may hold a one three-hour meeting on August 4 or 5 in accordance to Article 8, C3, which will count toward the 6 hours possible for this day.

 

These days may be used to earn hours through online professional development approved by the ADE provided the professional development relates to the district’s ASCIP and the teacher’s professional growth plan.

 

PD MAKEUP

In the event that a teacher is not in attendance at a building-level or district required meetings or approved professional development activities, the teacher will need to acquire the 60 hours either by 1) obtaining and attending an off contract session or activity with the approval of the principal, 2) attending another district-sponsored professional development activity, or 3) obtaining and attending a session or activity with the approval of the principal that will count toward the 60-hr. minimum requirement. In order to report make-up hours, the teacher will need to submit the appropriate form for activities that were out-of-district. Activities that are district-sponsored will be reported to the Professional Development Department and will be entered into the system. 

 

With the approval of the principal, a teacher may use AR IDEAS (Act 2318 of 2005), not to exceed 12 hours, PBS TeacherLine Courses, or PD 360 Courses as possible substitutions. Employees who are on an approved medical leave will be encouraged to utilize an approved online source to obtain their hours.

 

Certified employees who are prevented from obtaining the required professional development hours due to their illness or the illness of an immediate family member as defined in A.C.A. § 6-17-1702 have until the end of the following school year to make up the deficient hours. This extension does not absolve the employee from also obtaining the following year’s required 60 hours of professional development.

 

DISTRICT PD ACTIVITIES FOR ADDITIONAL HOURS TOWARD THE REQUIRED 60 HOURS

Another way teachers may obtain PD hours to make up for days missed is by participating in the following ways AFTER SCHOOL AND CONTRACTUAL TIME.

 

ELEMENTARY (After-school Meetings with professional development activities)

• One (1) regularly scheduled faculty meeting each month
• One (1) elementary meeting per month
• Nine (9) elementary grade level meetings a year
• Five (5) general staff meetings of professional development called by the Superintendent or his/her designee

 

SECONDARY (After-school meetings with professional development activities)

• Seven (7) meetings per year
• Five (5) general staff meetings of professional development called by the Superintendent or his/her designee

 

DURING CONTRACTUAL TIME FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Elementary level: Eight (8) monthly meetings for professional development
• Secondary Level: Eight (8)  monthly meetings for professional development

 

ADDITIONAL PD SUBSTITUTIONS AND/OR OPPORTUNITIES THAT MAY COUNT TOWARDS OR ABOVE THE 60 HOURS

*College/university coursework 2 - 3 hour credit classes

(3 credit hrs = 15 PD hrs - only up to 30 hours PD can be earned in this manner)

      The proper forms must be submitted to the ADE to get approval to use college credit.

*Building-level professional development

*Mentoring

*Study Groups

The proper forms must be submitted to count these hours towards the required professional development hours.

*Conferences/Institutes

*District workshops

 

APPROVED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Approved professional development must be based on the improvement of student achievement on State criterion-referenced assessments and increasing student achievement and academic performance.  It must produce teaching knowledge and skills designed to improve students’ academic performance. 

 

All approved professional development activities shall relate to the following areas: content (k-12); instructional strategies; assessment; advocacy/leadership; systemic change process; standards, frameworks, and curriculum alignment; supervision; mentoring/coaching; educational technology; principles of learning/developmental stages; cognitive research; building a collaborative learning community; and parental involvement.

 

FLEX DAY REQUEST QUALIFICATIONS

All “Flex Day Requests” from a professional development days and/or activities must adhere to the designated professional development requirements:

1.      be aligned with ACSIP,

2.      be an activity external of the regular instructional/contractual day,

3.      be administered by an approved ADE provider, and

4.      cannot be supported by federal funds.

 

All “Flex Day Requests” must be completed and submitted five (5) days prior to the designated and required professional development day and/or activity to the appropriate supervisor/principal for approval. A teacher should not substitute any scheduled and required professional development activity on the days specified until an approval has been granted by the principal/supervisor.

 

With the approval of the principal, teachers may opt to waive or substitute up to 6 hours for these dates (October 19 & May 27) with previously approved professional development that supports the instructional needs of the school via the submission of a Flex Day Form.

 

SALARY CREDIT

Teachers are still eligible to earn salary credit for an approved professional development through the submission of the “Salary Request Form.”  If the teachers are paid for the workshops that they attend in the summer then those days become ineligible to be used as a flex day.  *See flex day qualifications section.

 

SUBMISSION OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PAPERWORK

Teachers will NOT submit every workshop or professional development activity or experience to the principal. Under this new model, teachers will submit rosters and agendas supported by the contractual and instructional days and times spelled out in this model along with their individual professional development plan at the end of the year to the principal. Also if the teacher wants to use college credit work towards the 60 hours a form of approval from the ADE must be submitted with paperwork to be counted.  To receive credit for his/her professional development activity each employee is responsible for obtaining and submitting documents of attendance, or completion for each professional development activity he/she attends.

 

Employees who do not receive or furnish documentation of the required annual professional development jeopardize the accreditation of their school and academic achievement of their students.  Failure of an employee to receive sixty (60) hours of professional development in any given year, unless due to illness as permitted by law, shall be grounds for disciplinary action up to and including termination.