Universities Partner With Schools To Teach Professional Development To Educators

Much like a software engineer must stay on top of improvements in a constantly changing high tech world, so do our nation's educators need to commit to a lifetime of continuing education to remain effective, and to stay informed about new technology, as well as new developments in teaching methods. Local universities and teacher education centers are partnering with school districts, individual schools and professional organizations to support enhanced professional development for educators.

Some universities offer accelerated education courses so those contemplating acquiring their teacher certification are able to stay in their current employment or begin teaching before the credential process is complete. These courses are available to current and potential instructors through an arrangement with school districts and boards.

Sparked by a provision of the No Child Left Behind act, professional development programs for school staff have evolved beyond the single afternoon or weekend workshop. The new updated look of professional development now incorporates on-campus and in-school continuing education. Establishments such as the National Teacher Education Center, or NTEC, and others promote performance benchmarks that foster a team-based approach on each campus. They believe this group responsibility mind-set and process will help ensure effective performance monitoring of the teachers, and will take full advantage of each participant's insights and prior experience.

The concept is to maintain the focus on how students learn, whether their classroom is in a suburb or an inner-city; whether children come from a household with two parents or one headed by an over worked single parent.

Some critical aspects of this approach include:

• Staying in touch with the role of technology in education

• Meeting the unique needs of each student

• Involving a team of teachers, principals and families

• Increasing English as a Second Language and bilingual teaching skills in a multi-cultural world

This in-school team approach has gained the support of teachers, principals and unions alike, since it makes the best use of limited teacher time.

There is an heightened concern with accountability; that is, professional development monitors and tracks quantifiable impacts on student achievement, both individually, by grade level, and by school. This goes well beyond the conventional teacher certification requirements to attend a certain number of workshops annually or take some post-graduate classes. There is a new focus on "pay for performance," a principle borrowed from the business community.

Today's professional development for educators is intended to provide them with the know how they need to transfer their knowledge and skills to their students so that indeed, no child is left behind in a competitive multinational economy.

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