Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EVIDENCE:
Professional
learning
needs
at
the
school
level
have
been
identified
using
limited
sources
of
data
(MAP
results)
and
teachers
have
not
been
involved
in
this
analysis.
One
survey
in
regards
to
instructional
technology
needs
was
administered
at
the
beginning
of
the
year
(https://goo.gl/asRMxk),
but
there
was
no
strategic
plan
designed
to
address
the
needs
expressed
by
teachers
though
the
survey.
No
differentiated
professional
learning
has
been
offered
during
the
last
few
years.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Data
teams
should
be
formed
in
order
to
build
a
data
driven
culture
at
the
school.
The
school
leadership
team
along
with
the
grade
level
chair
should
look
at
various
student
data
sources
in
order
to
identify
the
professional
learning
needs.
Professional
learning
sessions
should
be
differentiated
and
ongoing
support
should
be
offered
during
the
implementation
of
all
initiatives.
Georgia Department of Education
April 2015
Georgia School Performance Standards
Professional Learning Standard 2: Establishes a culture of collaboration among administrators and staff to enhance individual and
collective performance
EVIDENCE:
A
culture
of
collaboration
at
Vision
International
School
is
just
emerging.
Up
until
this
year,
the
teachers
worked
collaboratively
in
Professional
Learning
Communities,
but
stating
with
this
school
year,
the
only
collaborative
teams
are
the
common
planning
teams,
and
many
of
these
teams
are
composed
of
two
members
(grade
level
counterparts
from
the
girls
and
boys
school)
and
the
administrators
are
rarely
is
ever
present.
The
teachers
receive
feedback
from
administrators
only
one
time
a
year
during
the
appraisal
process
as
a
result
of
the
classroom
observations
conducted
throughout
the
year.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Establishing a culture of collaboration among administrators and staff is critical for enhancing individual and collective performance.
One of the strategies that VIS could adopt would be the use of professional learning communities designed around professional
learning needs identified through analysis of a variety of data sources.
EVIDENCE:
Administrators
occasionally
define
expectations
for
the
implementation
of
professional
learning.
There
are
no
monitoring
protocols
in
place
and
during
the
course
of
this
year
the
teachers
have
been
presented
with
very
few
professional
learning
sessions
and
no
new
initiatives
have
been
developed
or
implemented
this
year.
Teachers
are
expected
to
develop
lessons
plans
that
are
shared
with
the
curriculum
director
using
G
Suite
and
they
are
also
expected
to
use
Atlas
as
a
curriculum-mapping
tool.
The
lesson
plans
and
the
curriculum
maps
are
documenting
the
implementation
of
professional
learning.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Administrators
and
team
chairs
should
work
collaboratively
to
develop
rubrics
for
the
implementation
of
various
initiatives
along
with
timelines
for
their
implementation.
Monitoring
protocols
and
support
systems
should
be
put
in
place.
To
encourage
the
teachers
to
implement
initiatives
with
fidelity
and
set
out
examples
of
good
practices,
the
administrative
team
could
share
success
stories
via
newsletters
or
Shout
Out
web
pages.
EVIDENCE:
This
school
year,
staff
members
have
received
single,
stand-alone
professional
learning
events
that
were
informational
and
all
of
them
in
a
large
group
format.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Some
of
my
recommendations
would
be
to
have
the
administrative
team
design
collaboratively
with
the
grade
level
chairs
a
professional
learning
plan
for
the
year.
The
professional
learning
plan
should
include
various
job-embedded
professional
development
designs
and
would
be
derived
from
the
staffs
learning
needs
and
closely
related
to
the
schools
goals
and
vision
and
mission.
Another
easy
to
implement
solution
would
be
to
encourage
peer
observations
and
offer
incentives
to
teachers
who
are
willing
to
lead
professional
development
for
groups
of
teachers.
Lastly,
the
administration
could
organize
teacher
led
professional
development
sessions
using
a
carrousel
format.
Georgia Department of Education
April 2015
Georgia School Performance Standards
Professional Learning Standard 5: Allocates resources and establishes systems to support and sustain effective professional learning
EVIDENCE:
Professional
learning
that
takes
place
outside
of
school
is
funded
with
$1,200
per
teacher,
per
year.
Teachers
are
dismissed
from
their
regular
duties
when
they
attend
professional
development
sessions
outside
of
school,
and
substitute
teachers
are
provided.
(Affour,
interview,
January
2017).
However,
when
teachers
come
back
from
professional
development,
they
have
not
been
required
to
disseminate
their
learning
and
share
good
practices
they
learned.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
In
order
to
meet
the
demands
of
this
standard,
my
school
leaders
would
need
to
develop
systems
in
order
to
sustain
effective
professional
learning.
Employing
instructional
coaches
who
could
provide
teachers
with
individualized
support
during
the
implementation
of
various
initiatives
could
be
of
great
help.
As
the
school
offers
$1200
a
year
for
professional
development,
the
curriculum
director
could
establish
a
protocol
for
disseminating
good
practices
by
the
teachers
who
attend
professional
development
outside
of
school.
Georgia Department of Education
April 2015
Georgia School Performance Standards
Professional Learning Standard 6: Monitors and evaluates the impact of professional learning on staff practices and student
learning
EVIDENCE:
The
monitoring
and
evaluating
the
impact
of
professional
learning
on
staff
happens
through
classroom
observations,
which
occur
sporadically.
(Affour,
interview,
January,
2017)
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Data analysis is critical because it creates opportunities for making adjustments to the professional learning plan. Through data
analysis school leaders can take a closer look at the data about people, practices, and perceptions, engage in data driven decision-
making and collaborative inquiry and, therefore, explore systematically the various causes of student learning problems and propose
solutions. Teachers
could
engage
in
action
research
in
order
to
find
evidence
in
regards
to
the
effectiveness
of
professional
learning
practices.
Besides
conducting
classroom
observations,
the
administrative
team
could
design
monitoring
plans
to
ensure
that
the
initiatives
are
fully
implemented
and
they
should
share
with
the
teachers
the
tools
utilized
to
evaluate
the
depth
and
breath
of
the
implementation
practices.
To
evaluate
the
impact
of
professional
development,
the
teachers
and
the
administrative
team
could
develop
surveys
that
would
be
shared
with
students
and
parents.
Collaborative
item-level
data
analysis
would
also
help
monitor
and
evaluate
the
impact
of
professional
learning.
EVIDENCE:
Classroom
practices
of
some
teachers
reflect
skill
in
communicating
high
expectations
for
each
student
and
adjusting
classroom
activities
to
meet
student
needs.
The
English
as
a
Second
Language
(ESL)
teachers
collaborate
with
the
regular
teachers
and
provide
students
with
specialized
support.
The
teacher
body
is
composed
of
Western
educated
teachers
and
also
teachers
educated
in
the
Middle
East.
Through
surveys
is
was
determined
that
the
majority
of
the
Arabic
teachers
stick
to
a
rigid
curriculum,
and
make
little
to
no
adjustment
to
instruction
to
address
the
needs
of
all
students.
One
example
would
be
the
fact
that
students
who
finished
Year
4
using
a
British
curriculum
at
a
different
school
and
came
to
our
school
in
Grade
4,
are
using
the
same
textbooks
in
Arabic
and
Islamic
Studies
all
over
again
with
no
curriculum
or
instructional
adjustments.
The
involvement of the majority of the families and
Georgia Department of Education
April 2015
Georgia School Performance Standards
other stakeholders in promoting student learning is rather limited.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
The
school
leaders
should
expand
professional
learning
opportunities
to
address
not
only
the
needs
of
the
second
language
learners,
but
also
of
the
students
with
disabilities.
Professional
development
should
also
target
the
Arabic
teachers
who
need
differentiated
learning
opportunities
that
would
equip
them
with
knowledge
and
skills
to
differentiate
their
instruction
and
design
dynamic
and
personalized
learning
experiences.