Professional Development

Journal story...

Millions spent annually on professional development to prepare for common core

Middletown City Schools spent $2 million in federal Race to the Top funds for professional development in 2010 and 2011, according to treasurer Kelley Thorpe.

Employees also have the option to seek out additional training and coursework from outside agencies. Included in teacher union contracts are tuition reimbursements of as much as $1,000 per year in Middletown, and a maximum of $810 per year in Hamilton, according to officials.

The Hamilton and Middletown districts also dedicate funds to partner with consultants at the Hamilton County Educational Service Center for professional development in certain subjects areas, such as science in Middletown, according to Mack.

Mack said the consultant will observe teachers during a lesson, provide feedback and then model their own lesson.

“(The consultant) models the lesson to provide rigor … to get teachers thinking about the process as a student would,” Mack said. “Understanding it and having it modeled helps bring it back together.”

AND HOW HAS THIS PROGRAM'S EVALUATION BEEN? IS IT WORTH THE MONEY SPENT OR WAS IT SET UP AND NOT MONITORED FOR EFFECTIVENESS? ANY FEEDBACK FROM OUT SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS AS TO WHETHER IT IS WORTH THE MONEY OR NOT?

Carolyn Mack, staff development coordinator for Middletown City Schools, said teachers in certain grade levels and content areas have begun implementing Ohio’s new common core — including math in grades K-5 and science in grades three and six

SOUNDS LIKE IT'S TOO EARLY TO TELL AS TO SUCCESS. WHY ONLY "CERTAIN GRADE LEVELS AND CONTENT AREAS" ON THE NEW COMMON CORE IMPLEMENTATION?

Thank you for the response Ms. Andrew.

"In response, we have changed the way the professional development is delivered, providing coaches or "consultants" who go into the classrooms to help teachers implement what they have learned"

AND WHAT IS THE COST TO THE TAXPAYER, IF ANY, FOR THE COACHES AND CONSULTANTS TO HELP TEACHERS IN THE CLASSROOM?

REMEMBER IN MY EARLIER POSTS, PERHAPS YEARS AGO, WHEN I SUGGESTED CHANGING THE WAY TEACHERS TEACH? TRYING NEW METHODS OF APPROACH IN THE WAY THE CLASS MATERIAL/LESSON PLANS ARE PRESENTED? I BELIEVE WE ARE ARRIVING AT THAT POINT.....ALBEIT, YEARS LATER. PERHAPS SOME OF US NON-ACADEMICS CAN SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES. SOMETIMES, WHEN YOU'RE NOT CLOSE UP AND PERSONAL WITH THE ISSUES, YOU HAVE A BETTER VANTAGEPOINT FOR MAKING SUGGESTIONS.

Ms. Andrew:

"With all due respect, the district has been providing professional development to teachers to introduce new approaches to teaching for years, since before I was first elected 7 years ago. It is not a new thing or something that you thought of that people in the educational field did not".

If introducing new approaches to teaching was adopted by the educational field people, apparently they were not effective as the results languish for decades at a consistently low level of achievement? They may have been aware that new approaches were needed but they sure didn't find any that worked judging by the results. By the way, Ms. Andrew, my posts go back beyond 7 years as I posted in the past on the old Journal blogs before coming here in 2008 (I think)Been offering this suggestion for many years and don't claim to be the first to come up with the idea. The educational people are not the know-all/be all in the answer department. Their record of performance shows us that.