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Professional Development for staff is an integral part of any organization. The Westford Public Schools provides professional development for its staff in a variety of ways, including course offerings, attendance at conferences, workshops, and meetings led by principals, curriculum coordinators, and other staff members. The Early Release Day Professional Development programs are an essential component of training on topics which are relevant to all educators in the district.
During the 2012-2013 school year, there are seven Early Release Days devoted to Professional Development. Five of these days are devoted to district-wide topics, including three days focused on information about the new Massachusetts Educator Evaluation framework and two days focused on curriculum topics. Two other days are devoted to site-based initiatives; on these days, the principal and members of the school-based Professional Development team decide on a school-based topic.
The three days devoted to the new Educator Evaluation framework are especially important this year. The Massachusetts DESE has created a new framework for Educator Evaluation, which Westford is implementing during the 2012-2013 school year. The new framework applies to all educators (including all administrators and teachers). Consistent with the recommendations of national experts, this framework focuses on student learning and professional growth. All educators are required to write two goals, one focusing on student learning and one on professional practice. These goals can be individual or team. There are five steps to the process: self-assessment, goal writing and plan development, implementation of the plan, mid-cycle review, and summative evaluation. During the 2011-2012 school year, the
districtís Leadership Team engaged in significant preparation for the implementation of the stateís new Educator Evaluation framework. A Professional Learning Team of administrators attended conferences and workshops throughout the year to become “in-house experts”, and then taught all the other administrators about the key components of this new framework. In addition, a consultant worked with all the leaders to ensure consistency with regards to classroom observations of teaching practices. After the school year ended in June, all teachers attended two days of professional development about this new framework. The three Early Release Day follow-up sessions are essential to the process of implementing the new framework in a way which has a positive impact on educators and students.
The two Early Release days devoted to curriculum topics will focus on implementation of the Common Core State Standards, which were incorporated into the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks last year. Combined with the other district-wide and school-based sessions, these curriculum sessions provide important opportunities for the staff to keep up-to-date with new regulations and initiatives, share best practices, and determine strategies for application to their teaching practices.
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