Table of Contents
Introduction
The New York State Public Schools (NYSPS) has requested the assistance of the New York Staff Development Council (NYSDC) to develop a five-year state comprehensive development plan. The committee for planning the intended development was formed under the leadership of Karen Kuvakh, NYSPS Executive Director of Professional Development. The Committee values the opinions and the contribution of the stakeholders and hence there will be the inclusion of a representative from different schools, parents, districts, teacher organization and the overall board. NYSPS facilitates various sessions which assisted the project to develop a comprehensive plan. Through committee meetings, vision, goals and the guideline principles for the project were developed.
The purpose of the plan is to provide support for the teaching faculty with the formulation of targets that enhance the practice of instruction and at the same time improve the learning process of students. The plan will include professional learning standards from the federal level that will, in turn, align instructions with professional learning practices. Moreover, the professional standards for the national level will provide accountability measures for the progress of both the teacher and the student. Moreover, the plan has a purpose of enhancing a collaborative learning environment with distributed leadership and learning responsibility.
NYSPS Vision
To foster a collaborative learning environment that prepares students for leadership roles and learning responsibility throughout their education and career life.
Professional Development Vision/ Goal
All stakeholders in public schools within the New York States share a responsibility to participate in the professional learning process by supporting the teaching faculty through the formulation of goals for enhancing the learning process and education practices.
NYSPS Guiding Principles
- Through enhancement of leadership, the capacity of students, as well as all other individuals in the organization and institutions, is developed.
- Through diversity, the learning opportunities and collaborative experiences for all stakeholders in the plan will be enhanced.
- Comprehensive result are achievable through focusing on the set goals
- To achieve the desired results, professional learning communities become essential
- Professional education uses strategies that enhance student learning procedure and also improve effectiveness o instructors
Implementation of Professional Learning Standards
Learning Communities
Learning communities in this project will include language arts teachers from the fourth to the eighth grade. These language arts teachers will use professional learning opportunities that will assist the group to establish consistency between classes, through the collaboration of the design with the scaffolded curriculum maps. Moreover, the design will help these teachers to support proper alignment to Common Core Sate Standards.
21st Century Professional Development Standards
The strategy employed in the learning community will be able to help achieve balance when it comes to assessment as there will be the use of high-quality standard testing (Partnership for 21st Century Skill, 2010).
NCLB standards
These standards align with the standards for the learning communities as it will foster the improvement of knowledge of teachers and hence enhance professionalism and competency levels (Cortiella, 2011).
New York’s Professional Development
New York’s professional development standards also foster content knowledge and quality teaching which will hence improve student’s progress (The City University of New York, 2008).
Leadership
The plan will promote the development of professional learning which will increase the effectiveness of the teachers in relying on information and knowledge to learners. Skills of the teachers will be enhanced to fit those of leaders who advocate and create a support system during the learning process (Department of Education & Training, 2005).
21st Century Professional Development Standards
The 21st century standards align itself with this specification by supporting leadership through effective classroom formative and summative assessment. Communication strategies such as face to face, blended and virtual communications are also important in promoting the exercise of leadership in class (Partnership for 21st Century Skill, 2010).
NCLB Standards
Teachers are important parts in any public school. Hence teachers should be highly qualified and competent to offer the right skills and leadership techniques for learning. Teachers should hence demonstrate proficiency in their subjects actually to lead the class.
New York’s Professional Development
Professional development fosters collaboration in the learning environment as educators have the skill, knowledge, and opportunity to collaborate in a trusting and respectful environment (The City University of New York, 2008).
Resources
The implementation process will involve a professional learning process with the aim of increasing the effectiveness of the educators. The effectiveness of a teacher implies that there will be improvement in their competency levels and hence students’ education levels will improve as teachers will prioritize, coordinate and monitor their learning resources
Data
The implementation process will involve professional learning that will improve the efficiency associated with education. To improve the results for the learners, there will be the use of a variety of sources that will satisfy the different types of students. Educators will use the data retrieved from the sources to plan, assess and evaluate the professional learning process (Department of Education & Training, 2005).
21st Century Professional Development Standards
Will emphasize the need for broad understating of knowledge amongst educators who will passes the knowledge to students. Moreover, the technique will engage students with data, tools, and expertise that exist in the real world. Therefore, students will prepare themselves active solving of problems they will encounter in college and during the careers.
NCLB Standards
The state retirements are essential as they require teachers to demonstrate competency by proving their knowledge on the subjects they teach (Cortiella, 2011).
New York’s Professional Development
The standard will encourage a professional practice that is data driven in nature. The developments in the profession will use disaggregated data as well as other evidence of the patterns in student’s learning to determine the learning needs and priorities essential in professional development. Moreover, the data and evidence will be used in monitoring student’s progress and also in the sustenance of professional growth (The City University of New York, 2008).
Learning Design
The implementation process will involve the use of designs that will integrate theories, models of human learning and research for education. Employing such models will assist in the achievement of a professional learning atmosphere that fosters active and efficient learning.
21st Century Professional Development Standards
These standards encourage the implementation of a learning design that allows for multiple measures of mastery (The City University of New York, 2008).
NCLB Standards
Through these standards, there will be measurements on the diverse issues faced by different types of students in the learning environment. The learning design will hence adopt goals and plans that ensure incorporation of significant aspects of the curriculum.
New York’s Professional Development
These standards will assist in the modification of the learning environment for students through professional developments that will guarantee that educators create a learning environment that is supportive, safe, and secure and encourages an equitable learning environment. Through appropriate use of technology, the learning design will integrate the different theories and models that promote learning.
Implementation
The application of the changes will employ standards that will ensure maintenance of long-term change. Therefore, there will be extensive research conducted on the change to sustain support from stakeholders as well as students (Department of Education & Training, 2005).
21st Century Professional Development Standards
The standards are useful as they will emphasize valuable feedback that will be embedded in the everyday learning and will hence give information of the performance of students. The implementation will furthermore focus on the provision of opportunities that students will use in the application of the 21st-century skills (The City University of New York, 2008).
NCLB standards
The flexibility adopted by the standards of NCLB benefit students, teachers, and local administrators when it comes to implementation as it allows for incorporation of techniques that foster active learning (Cortiella, 2011).
New York’s Professional Development
During the whole process, the standards will give room for evaluation of the professional developments through the use of multiple sources of data. These sources of information will assess the effectiveness of the adopted measures in the improvement of professional practice (Partnership for 21st Century Skill, 2010).
Outcomes
The plan will take a procedure for professional learning that aligns its outcomes with the performance of teachers as well as the curriculum standards of students.
21st Century Professional Development Standards
The rules will enable the development of portfolios that students will use when it comes to working to demonstrate the mastery of their 21st-century skills. The demonstration of the skills will determine their competency levels to educators and employers (Partnership for 21st Century Skill, 2010).
New York’s Professional Development
Diverse learning will ensure that the teachers will possess knowledge and skills that will be necessary for use in the different learning environment. Students will hence have skills which they will be able to utilize in the various environments in college and their working areas (The City University of New York, 2008).
Learning System Reflections
Reflection of Benefits
The State Learning System has a benefit of raising the level of expectations for all students as the achievement level within New York state will be to the same degree. The state standards will also ensure that all students meet the national standards that will consequently imply that all students meet the international levels of achievement in education. Another benefit associated with the standards is that students will quickly adjust to new schools in case of movement from one point to another. Finally, the focus is an essential element of the rules as every stakeholder will have an insight in the aims of the standards hence fosters a conducive environment for learning.
Details on how to address the four Drivers of Change
The 21st century has come with various changes that relate to skills in education that leaders have an obligation of embracing. Leaders should hence develop a vision that they effectively communicate to institutions and all stakeholders. Leaders should have an orientation towards progressive education and commitment to continuous learning, innovation, a global mindset and embracing of technology.
Cross-bound collaboration is also another driver of change addressable through efficient management of institutional learning knowledge. The collaboration will foster the appropriate and enhanced use of technology in teaching and learning.
Knowledge management is another driving force of change useable in determining the continuous changing lifestyles and new factors such as technology, innovation, change in the society, learner attitudes in determining the learning design that can be adopted.
Globalization is a force manageable through adaptation of the international standards of learning, eliminating barriers preventing foreign exchange programs amongst other measures.
Drivers Effect on Culture
Changes affect the education culture as it leads to embarrassing of new teaching strategies and techniques that differ from the conventional methods. By adoption of technology and new innovative approach, the traditional learning culture is modified to fit the contemporary design.
- Cortiella, C. (2011). NCLB and IDEA: What Parents of Students with Disabilities Need to Know and Do. Ldonline.org. Retrieved form: http://www.ldonline.org/article/11846/
- Department of Education & Training. (2005). Professional Learning in Effective Schools: The Seven Principles of Highly Effective Professional Learning. Vic.Gov. Retrieved form: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/profdev/proflearningeffectivesch.pdf
- Partnership for 21st Century Skill. (2010). Curriculum and Instruction: A 21st Century Skills Implementation Guide. Retrieved form: http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/p21-stateimp_curriculuminstruction.pdf
- The City University of New York. (2008). An early childhood workforce for the 21st century: Professional development is key. Policy Brief, 1(4)