Professional Development Education Learning Essay

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Assessment of Existing Culture

Just two years into its existence, the high school is doing remarkably well. The school welcomes 1100 students each day. Currently, the school only has the capacity for grades 9 to 11, but grade 12 programming is being developed now. The staff of 45 dedicated full-time teachers is eager to become a part of this new school, which has two assistant principals in addition to the principal at the helm. School counselors, administrative assistants, and other staff round out the human resources. Although there is significant room for improvement, the high school is off to a good start.

Some of the main areas in need of improvement include the lack of vision for a professional learning community or a collaborative learning environment to stimulate personal and professional development. Additionally, administration has created a sense of insecurity and mistrust in the culture by creating too many temporary positions and not engendering a sense of civic pride in the institution. Teachers are not being formally evaluated nearly enough, and not all teachers are using a standard curriculum or participating in professional development planning. Teacher development days are underutilized, and teachers lack support for their own leadership visions.

Setting a New Vision

As the incoming principal, I look forward to transforming the organizational culture in the school. My primary focus will be on creating a professional learning community and collaborative learning environment. A professional learning community establishes a culture of accountability, professionalism, and collaboration. Ultimately, a collaborative learning environment promotes high levels of student achievement and success (Owen, 2014). The vision for the high school will be to promote a culture of success for both educators and students.

Policies and Procedures

The first step in transforming the school culture will be to hold a series of meetings to discuss future plans.

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Instead of letting go of core teaching staff, I would make sure to retain all credentialed staff and offer permanent positions to all who were interested. One of our administrative assistants can help publish a professional development plan, including formal sessions and consultations with the principal at strategic intervals.

Second, technological tools will be used to facilitate professional development as well as student learning and achievement. Virtual professional learning networks will allow all teachers to overcome “temporal and spatial constraints,” (Trust, Krutka & Carpenter, 2016, et al, p. 1). This way, junior staff members can develop their skills alongside more senior staff, to generate a truly collaborative learning environment. Teachers will also learn how to use educational technology more robustly in the classroom, creating egalitarian learning environments. Technology will also facilitate communications between educators, parents, and community stakeholders. Parents and community organizations should be considered part of the collaborative learning environment.

Third, the school will encourage accountability and collaboration through regular teacher evaluations and assessments. Formal observations will be conducted in non-threatening ways, offering teachers the opportunity to be paired with mentors. Teachers will also participate in peer monitoring and review, in keeping with the tenets of collaborative learning and professional development.

Fourth, curriculum will also reflect shared values, goals, and ideals. Curriculum will be “job-embedded, contextually relevant, and perhaps based on results from the most recent teacher-needs survey,” (Guskey, 2014, p. 12). Planning curriculum collaboratively ensures consistency across all classes and subjects, while also making sure that individual teachers are learning from each other to generate content that reflects the school mission. Curriculum development now will significantly help the high school transition to its senior year/12th grade coursework. It is….....

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