TRAINING = Personalized, Relevant, Quality Professional Development
Why Is Teacher Development Important?: Because Students Deserve the Best!
Great teachers help create great students. In fact, research shows that an inspiring and informed teacher is the most important school-related factor influencing student achievement, so it is critical to pay close attention to how we train and support both new and experienced educators.
Teacher-Induction Programs Support for beginning teachers is vital. Even if well prepared, new teachers often are assigned to the most challenging schools and classes with little supervision and support. Nearly half of all teachers leave the profession in their first five years, so more attention must be paid to providing them with early and adequate support.
Mentoring and coaching Conversations with and input from experienced, successful colleagues is critical to the successful development of a teacher. Great professional development programs create opportunities for all teachers to continuously learn from best practices and analyze and reflect on their practice.
Ongoing Professional Development It is critical for veteran teachers to have ongoing and regular opportunities to learn from each other. Ongoing professional development keeps teachers up-to-date on new research on how children learn, emerging technology tools for the classroom, new curriculum resources, and more. The best professional development is ongoing, experiential, collaborative, and connected to and derived from working with students and understanding their culture.