This month, SmartBlog on Education shines a light on reader trends, content roundups and expert forecasts for 2016. Here, three school principals share their professional development predictions for 2016.
Julie Frederickson, principal of The School of Arts and Sciences
I predict schools will move past the fear of the unknown that came with new standards. They’ll do this by turning teachers into trainers, so more and more PD will come from someone who isn’t the principal. We also need to develop action plans to so we can be sure that all of what we’ve said in PD sessions is accurate. And PD will not just be for teachers: Administrator training will include an overview of standards, a section on analyzing data, and lessons in school community readiness.
Michael Castellano, principal of Pembroke Pines Charter School West Campus
I see more schools adopting a blended model of professional development. The model is an all-inclusive approach to effectively building teacher capacity, and helps us not just teach the procedure but the concept. It will also be increasingly important to train curriculum specialists to share best practices, implementation models, and data trends to ensure that students are making progress.
Julie Alm, principal of Aventura Charter of Excellence
The future of PD is sharing resources. We plan to have other schools visit us, watch what we’re doing and then ask questions. Teachers’ most valuable commodity is time. To take teachers out of their classrooms for a day of offsite PD is challenging for everyone, so when we have people willing to come to us as well as offer online options, that is a huge time-saver and benefit.
Julie Alm is the principal of Aventura Charter of Excellence in Aventura, Fla. Michael Castellano is the principal of Pembroke Pines Charter School West Campus in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Julie Frederickson is the principal of The School of Arts and Sciences in Tallahassee, Fla. These recommendations were gleaned from these schools’ work with Public Consulting Group.
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