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You don’t have to take it from me. A quick google search of the terms, “professional development” and “student achievement” will provide a profusion of scholarly articles that discuss the merits of teacher professional development and the direct correlation between it and student achievement. We all know that staff excel when they possess the skills and knowledge to fulfill their role as educational thought leaders and students excel when they are provided with the best possible learning environment. To create this ideal learning experience, well-planned, thorough staff professional development is a necessary component for success. But that’s not all!
Ask yourself this: How will I organize, track and manage our professional development programs? It’s true that your professional development content (whether on-demand and online or facilitated live and on-site) is a crucial aspect of the PD process, but so too is the management of the logistics behind the professional development days. Success is not dependant on one or the other, but both. To improve student achievement and increase graduation rates, content necessarily requires management (or framework) and vice versa. When your content lacks framework, your organization suffers.
Consider your professional development content to be akin to bricks and cement and your framework to be similar to a “blueprint for a bridge.” To build that bridge, you require knowledgeable and proficient staff that are capable of creating a solid structure. Your students will utilize this bridge to journey to wherever the other side will take them, so you want to be certain that this foundation is firm so that no one looses their way. You could ask your staff to build the bridge without the blueprint and solely with the materials at hand, but this will likely result in “trial and error.” Consequently, your staff will be bogged down with managing the logistics of bridge-making and focusing less time on what they do best. With a “step-by-step blueprint,” building a bridge can be done with ease and your staff will be free to guide and mentor your students across the structure and through the educational landscape.
PD Place is your blueprint for success! PD Place will assist your staff in reaching their career goals and your students will benefit from the best possible learning experience there is to offer. All staff will be kept up-to-date on all professional development opportunities that pertain to their profile and all members of your team will be kept in the “information loop.” If the inevitable scheduling change does arise, PD Place will handle the clerical duties and notify all registrants of the new course details via email. Clerical staff will feel satisfied knowing that PD Place automates all confirmation emails, course reminder emails and any other emails relating to scheduling changes, thereby freeing up valuable time for more pressing matters. If you offer professional development opportunities that require payment, PD Place can manage those payments online and will provide your members will an email receipt.
PD Place provides you with a high level of organization that will increase the overall efficiency of your institution, will offer you newfound transparency and accountability and will streamline and expedite your PD programs. PD Place provides the necessary framework to manage your professional development course offerings and subsequently, will assist in improving student achievement. Attempting to generate effective professional development programs with high quality content but lacking the proper framework is like trying to build a bridge with bricks and cement but without a proper blueprint. The best bridge-makers always use high quality materials and a well-established blueprint to reach their objective.
