Superintendent Small Suburban District (571)

Oftern professional development has not been long term.  How can we embed professional development into the dailyW lives of teachers?

Prof. Dev. must be meaningful to teachers and serve the needs of the students in district.  PD should not be developed in the abstract but in the real world with practical implications and related clearly to the needs of the students.  PD should not be an open range - not only for personal intellectual growth.  Contractual agreements have embedded PD in that we pay for it through workshops and graduate level courses.

How can we increase the student involvement in the curriculum process? 

That's a silly interpretation!  First graders developing curriculum?  Actual development in curr. may occur at the secondary level.  Curriculum process should be defined first.  Isn't it a distilled meaning of an academic area defined operationally?  Learn something new - how can a student develop something they don't know?  They must learn it first.  Indirect involvement?  Curriculum responds to needs of the students.  Results from an index to see if learning occurred.  Involved indirectly?  We are good at assessing left brained learners needs.  We could use performance based assessment for right brained learners. 

Currently many people regard standardized assessment as an ineffective tool for assessment.  How can we change current assessment practices to better evaluate student learning?

By expanding assessment using:  Exit Level Tests, Criterion Referenced Tests, Portfolio Assessment. Behaviorial Assessments

Often district disciplinary policies promote the exclusion of students who break rules.  How can we make our disciplinary policies more inclusive?

 We don't promote it!  We use in-school suspension.  Private highschools can let the students regulate themselves where the students choose the punishment for their peers.  Public schools have different legal issues so this can not be done.

We often hear the criticism that students are not making connections across the curricululm.  How can we restructure the curricululm to prevent discipinary isolation?

When I went to Manhattan College we had thematic course development.  For instance freshman year we took all ancient Greek courses - literature, history, art philosophy and so on for the first semester.  The second semester we did all those courses concerning the Romans.  Next Medieval everything - then Renaissance and so on up to current history.  It was wonderful!  I loved it.   Up to the Reformation you read primary sources and then secondary sources with  a restricted book list - clergy had to approve.  Restriction on interdisciplinary approach.

Often teachers feel isolated in their classrooms.  How can we foster a more collegial atmosphere in schools?

In our district the scope is small everyone knows everyone.  Of course, one campus would make it even better.  Use group meetings, assessment and collegial atmosphere.  Cross grade level meetings.

How can we change assessment to benefit all students?

Assessments complement with performance and benefit all thinkers - right and left brained thinkers.  Information from assessments will assess needs.  Diagnose - Assess - Improve.

Follow what I spoke about above.  Of course that is more full blown.  A more limited version would be teaming and projects.