History of #MyPD

#MyPD is a collaborative project started by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) in concert with social learning theorists and consultants, Beverly and Etienne Wenger-Trayner (wenger-trayner.com/). The project began in the late summer of 2016, when SREB sought out state interest in working on a localized project to create a community of practice among multiple districts.

The Oklahoma State Department of Education, as well as several other state departments, nominated a list of districts in the state for this collaboration. Through a written application and virtual interview, three districts in Oklahoma were chosen to partner with SREB to begin a cross-district community of teachers and principals who would work together for two years to experiment with a community collaborative approach to professional learning. Those districts are Harrah Public Schools, Mid-Del Public Schools and Shawnee Public Schools. Superintendents Blessington, Cobb and Grace all showed high interest and support in increasing collaboration and exploring educator-led professional learning. To view our FAQs on the #MyPD initiative, go to SREB.org/MyPD.

In November 2016, SREB staffer Megan Boren, the Wenger-Trayners and two researchers from Education First toured the districts and interviewed teachers and principals from one dozen schools. Combined with a review of district policies and documents, these interviews helped our team to gain insight of the context of the three districts and begin to meet and learn about the educators who work in the districts. SREB and Education First produced a summary report of the information gathered during this multi-day visit. This report was shared with Superintendents Cobb, Grace and Blessington.

With the support of the district superintendents, SREB and partners planned the launch of what is now called #MyPD, an educator-driven professional learning community of practice. Each district consented to allow all administrators and teachers who wished to participate to join the community. Each meeting day was counted as an official PD day by all three districts. SREB provided grant funding to support the effort, including meeting costs, substitute reimbursements or stipend costs. Meetings were hosted on January 3, May 2, September 9, October 28, 2017, and January 27 and March 10, 2018.