Strengths

Professional development at Lincoln Elementary School is an ongoing process that involves improvement in student learning and instructional practices. This requires evaluation of student performance and teacher self-assessment, identifying a plan of action, trying new approaches, and assessing the outcome. Lincoln Elementary School implements PLCs and we work to sustain the structure of embedded PD in our PLC meetings. At LES we believe professional development should provide all teachers in our building with skills and content knowledge for successful blended learning which will directly impact student achievement.

The needs of today's learners demand innovative and progressive instruction. We strive to ensure our professional development programs are aligned with our data and are needs-based. STEAM/PBL has been at the forefront of those PD opportunities for Lincoln Elementary School with the implementation of our STEAM Lab, Genius Lab, QR Codes, Robotics, Hour of Code, Digital Learning Day, SeeSaw and interactive student leadership portfolios. Teachers have the opportunity for side by side PD with the assistance of our STEAM teachers, DLP Coach, and IP.

Weaknesses/Challenges

Accountability for sharing learning that occurs in professional learning structures can be challenging. With structures such as faculty meetings, grade level leader meetings, PLCs, and data meetings provide opportunities for teachers to expand their leadership skills as well as utilize the learning strengths of others. Once a professional learning opportunity has occurred where does the learning go? Following up on the new learning is imperative and a component that can often slip through the cracks.

Action to Sustain Strengths/Action to Address Weaknesses

The Leadership Team works collaboratively to implement PD on an on-going basis. They also create schedules to allow for common planning time. Common planning time provides our teachers with the opportunity to collaborate and plan daily. Scheduling time for teachers to collaborate alongside multiple on-going PD opportunities has made a positive impact on student achievement.

To address the weakness, restructuring of the Technology Integration Specialist and Instructional roles were a focus this year. The Technology Integration Specialist attended a training week at Google Headquarters in California. During this training, role of the Technology Integration Specialist became a DLP Coach. After return, the Instructional Partner began to follow the same format. LES plans to continue these roles and analyze the data to make changes to the structure.