Arp ISD
212901

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: DMC

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION (LOCAL)

OVERVIEW Standards for professional growth for all District personnel have been developed in compliance with Texas Education Code 11.253 and 21.451. All District professional growth experiences must be related to the area of assignment and targeted areas as outlined by the Professional Development Advisory Committee (Department Chairs and Administrators).

INDUCTION Beginning with the 1998-1999 school year, all teachers new to the District shall be assigned a mentor and shall successfully complete a District-sponsored orientation period prior to the beginning of school. New teachers with zero to one year of experience shall successfully complete a District-sponsored two-year induction program. Attendance at these activities is mandatory and failure to attend could impact future employment with the District.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT All employees within the District will have established core areas of training that will be required during a five-year period. The core areas will be outlined for teachers, campus administration, certified/non-certified personnel, and support services personnel.  The sitebase improvement committees will input into the professional development offered by the district and campuses.  Data will be collected from teacher, parent, and student surveys, TSR growth plans, and AEIS reports.

DEFINITION OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CALENDAR YEAR For the purpose of this policy, the Professional Development Calendar Year shall be defined as the first day after the close of the school year through the last day of the following school year.  This calendar will allow teachers to gain Professional Development Credits (PDC) during the summer months in place of school-year credits upon approval of the campus principal and curriculum director (See FORM).  This Form must be submitted and approved two weeks prior to the inservice-exhange date.

DEFINITION OF TEACHER For the purpose of this policy, the term teacher includes the following: all classroom teachers, school librarians, counselors, and any other position deemed by the District to have any direct teaching responsibilities for students.

DEFINITION OF CAMPUS ADMINISTRATOR For the purpose of this policy, the term campus administrator includes principals, assistant principals, and curriculum director.

DEFINITION OF CERTIFIED/NON-CERTIFIED PERSONNEL For the purpose of this policy, certified/non-certified personnel includes all Central Office administrators and employees paid on the administrative/professional pay scale, excluding teachers and campus administrators.

DEFINITION OF SUPPORT SERVICES PERSONNEL For the purpose of this policy, support services personnel includes all paraprofessionals including classroom aides, secretaries, technical assistants, transportation, facilities, cafeteria, and any other manual trades employees.

REQUIRED STAFF DEVELOPMENT Staff development training for all employees in a five-year cycle shall include:

See DMC-R for breakdown of targeted areas required.

The District and Campus Improvement Committees will make data-driven recommendations for staff development to be offered by the district.  The district will facilitate staff development by offering a minimum of 50 hours of recommended staff development during Inservice scheduled time each year. 

Teachers who complete training requirements prior to the end of the five-year cycle are still required to attend all campus/district staff development days.

DOCUMENTATION OF TRAINING Each employee within the District shall have an official staff development record provided. This record will outline the specific professional development training required. All employees will be responsible for maintaining the documentation of their training and for submitting that documentation to Curriculum Director at the end of the five-year cycle. Progress toward completion of training hours will be reviewed annually by the supervisor. This shall be a part of the evaluation process.

See DMC-R for required documentation.

SANCTIONS FOR NONCOMPLIANCE Failure to comply with this policy may affect future employment in the District.

OVERVIEW Targeted areas for professional growth in alignment with SB 1 and the minimum of hours required in each 5-year cycle in each area include:

Up to 180 hours may be acquired during the contract day over the five-year period. The remaining 20 hours shall be acquired on non-contract time. Hours may be acquired from any of the core areas of training as outlined above. College credit may be part or all of the training on non-contract time. A college course is not required by the District.

2. Campus Administrators (100 hours required)

 

3. Certified/Non-Certified Professional (100 hours required)

4. Support Services Personnel (50 hours required)

minimum of 20 hours  

 

COLLEGE CREDIT Pre-approved college courses shall be calculated at 12 hours of professional development for every 3 hours of college credit.
CONTACT: 

DOCUMENTATION Training acquired during contract hours may be documented on the personnel portfolio as the supervisor designates. Training offered through district initiatives with grant funding will not need prior approval. A certificate of attendance will be given for all district training which must be included in the staff development record (Web-based). District personnel will be responsible for providing some form of documentation of training attended outside of the District. Training outside the District will require a prior approval form signed by the appropriate supervisor. This documentation shall be kept in the portfolio.

TRAVEL No credit may be earned for travel.

STIPULATIONS FOR PRESENTERS A professional staff member who conducts or presents training may receive double the credit designated for the participants of that specific training during the first presentation only. Additionally, supervisors may allow one hour of professional development credit per every hour of first-time presentation for the time spent in the preparation at a district inservice activity. Future presentations of the same topic are not eligible for double credit by presenters.

STIPULATIONS FOR EXCHANGING INSERVICE TIME (compensation time)  A professional staff member may utilize pre-approved compensation time for staff development during the regularly scheduled district or campus inservice day(s).  To gain compensation, a professional staff member must have written permission from both their campus principle and the curriculum director. This request must be submitted two weeks before the compensation time is to be granted.  The request must utilize the appropriate FORM.  This documentation must be displayed in the employees staff development record. (See FORM)

STIPULATIONS FOR ON-CONTRACT TRAINING The District will conduct professional development training and activities for classroom teachers during the instructional day only with specific approval of the Superintendent.  

A District-wide calendar will be maintained on the Arp Web site which will allow all personnel involved in planning to view all scheduled meetings.

Arp Independent School District provides and encourages professional development in five different models as outlined by the National Staff Development Council. Descriptions of differentiated models are provided to demonstrate that there are many ways to improve job-related knowledge, skills, or attitudes (Sparks and Loucks-Horsley, 1990. Five Models of Staff Development. Oxford, OH: National Staff Development Council). The five accepted models for the Arp ISD include:

INDIVIDUALLY-GUIDED STAFF DEVELOPMENT The learner designs learning activities. One of the assumptions of this model is that individuals are motivated by being able to select their own learning goals and means for accomplishing those goals. One belief which under girds this model is that self-directed development empowers teachers to address their own problems and by doing so, creates a sense of professionalism.  Individually-guided staff development will be accredited by the employees direct supervisor (principal or department chair) or curriculum director.

OBSERVATION/ASSESSMENT Instructional practices are improved through classroom observation and feedback. Having someone else in the classroom to view instruction and give feedback or provide reflection is a powerful way to impact classroom behavior. This model uses colleagues or other personnel to act as another set of "eyes and ears" for the teacher. Opportunities for analysis and reflection on professional practice are available in this format. Credit for observation/assessment will be issued by department chair or curriculum director.

INVOLVEMENT IN A DEVELOPMENT/IMPROVEMENT PROCESS Systematic school improvement processes typically involve assessing current practices and determining a problem whose solution will improve student outcomes. The solution might include developing curriculum designing, programs, or changing classroom practice. New skills or knowledge may be required which can be accomplished through reading, discussion, observation, training, and experimentation. Consequently, involvement in the improvement process can result in many new skills, attitudes, and behaviors.  Credit for involvement in improvement process will be given by immediate supervisor (principal) or curriculum director.

TRAINING A training design includes the selection of objectives, learning activities, and outcomes. Usually the outcomes involve awareness, knowledge, or skill development, but changes in attitude, transfer of training, and "executive control" need to be included as well. The improvement of teachers' thinking should be a critical outcome of any training program. The most effective training programs include exploration of theory, demonstrations of practice, supervised trail of new skills with feedback on performance, and coaching within the workplace.  Credit will be assigned by Region VII ESC or curriculum director.

INQUIRY Teachers formulate questions about their own practice and pursue objective answers to those questions. Inquiry involves the identification of a problem, data collection (from research literature and classroom data), data analysis, and changes in practice with additional data collection. The inquiry can be done individually or in small groups. This model is built on a belief that the mark of a professional teacher is the ability to take "reflective action." Credit for Inquiry will be assigned by curriculum director.

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