Project Gateway Components that Support Learning

 

Job-embedded professional development collaborative growth strategies for general and special education personnel in Project Gateway include the following:

 

Analysis of Aggregate and Subgroup Data:  The administrative school improvement management consultant with the support of the building principal, district assistance teams and/or school improvement teams, and instructional coach will utilize reports available to the school and district.  This will include intense analysis of academic achievement of special education as a subgroup within the school aggregate data analysis.   This analysis will support the school improvement process and support learning teams, as the focus of staff development is determined at each school.  This data analysis will also facilitate measurement of Project Gateway’s annual goals and annual academic objectives. 

 

Analysis of Student Work:  This staff development process ensures that what students learn is aligned with standards and helps educators understand how state and local standards apply to teaching practice. Educators work in small groups using a protocol to guide the group’s conversation regarding a piece of work.  This process will also be carried out at School Building Level Committee meetings as teams design universal access for learning.  According to Joann Richardson of the National Staff Development Council,  “In the hierarchy of professional development practices, examining student work would rank near the top because of the way that teachers work together to sharpen their practice to improve student learning” (Eason, 2002).

 

Focused Study Groups: This specific form of staff development was developed by Carlene Murphy and brings every staff member into small Focused Study Groups (3 to 6 members) to accomplish the following:

·        Analyze student data

·        Prioritize student needs

·        Organize groups around student needs

·        Design an action plan that specifies the content or curriculum of the study

·        Implement the plan and

·        Evaluate the plan

It is what the teachers do when the Focused Study Groups meet that will impact student performance.  The key question that guides the work of the study group each time the teachers meet is, “What are students learning and achieving as a result of what we are learning and doing in our study group?” (Murphy, 1999, 2001)

 

Mentoring and Coaching:  The administrative school improvement management consultant provides an external expert to determine areas of ineffectiveness in the school and to mentor the principals in building leadership capacity with a focus on improvement derived from the Correlation of Effective  Schools research.  The instructional coach provides an external expert to assist learning teams.  This professional development experience is determined not by a state program or district supervisory evaluation but by student and teacher needs at the school level. It includes any systematic program of noting, reviewing, and discussing the activities of another professional and is designed to encourage assistance, modeling, and coaching while the protégé learns new skills or strategies (Costa & Garmston, 1994; Joyce & Showers, 1995).

 

School-University Partnerships:  This professional development is a formal collaborative agreement between the university and the Region V Consortium and involves groups of teachers from the same school.  It differs from traditional course work in that the university provides services at the school site (Erksine-Cullen & Ethne, 1995). Year one, twenty regular and special education teachers from Oak Park Professional Development School will participate in the “Universal Design for Learning” teaching model targeting diverse learners.  Year two and three of Project Gateway, the school leadership teams are encouraged to participate in the “Universal Design for Learning” teaching model.