Snowball Methods

Participants were selected for this study in a specific way. The first step was that the teachers had to teach Pre-k to 3rd grade in the state of Louisiana. They also had to be a state-certified teacher and have 3 years or more of teaching experience. The researchers obtained e-mail addresses from all school websites, and from the 2,228 teachers that were emailed only 382 met the criteria. Of those 382 teachers, 247 were non-national board certified teachers (non-NBCT) and 135 were nationally certified teachers (NBCT). 61.8% of those 382 participants held elementary education degrees, 43.5% taught in rural districts, 54.2% held bachelor degrees, 87.4% identified as white and 26.2% were kindergarten teachers. “The framework for the study is built around the belief that successfully achieving National Board certification (NBPTS Process) in the area of early childhood generalist affects teachers perceived use of DAP” (McKenzie, 2013,

Roberts, S. & Pruitt, E. (2003). Schools as Professional Learning Communities: Collaborative Activities and Strategies for Professional Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Area III, Professional Development referenced strengths currently in place across the district: year-round professional development (PD) plan for teachers and administrators, and an effective mentor program for new and resident teachers. Likewise, the TL also noted significant challenges that reduce the effectiveness of staff training: too often, it (professional development) is voluntary or scheduled at inconvenient times, schools lack sufficient time to plan and collaborate around PD initiatives, the limited central office staff cannot provide adequate services, especially in specialty areas, too often, there is no on-going support after training, professional development sessions and initiatives are not carefully evaluated to determine what is effective, and competing initiatives across different offices send mixed messages to schools and teachers. Area IV, Specialty Programs and Other areas noted challenges facing the school district to include the recruitment and retention of highly qualified teachers. The report noted a number of factors have contributed to challenges with recruitment and retention including salary and benefits that may not be competitive enough with surrounding districts, and limited supports available to teachers to implement high quality instruction. Additionally, inconsistent teacher evaluation procedures do not produce useful feedback or data. Based on the initial evidence from focus groups and document reviews, the Teaching and Learning committee members developed twelve key recommendations. A critical recommendation regarding teacher attrition was: (TL 11) assess or clarify the issues around the hiring and retention of highly qualified and high-performing teachers (Dukes et.al). These findings suggest that PGCPS must find better ways of retaining teachers. Prince George’s County Public Schools can no longer afford to be complacent about teachers exiting the

The district beefed up the professional development for new teachers, especially those in the ARL program. Doing so has helped expand teachers capabilities which in turn increases their capacity in the school. In order for a school to be successful in reaching their mission,

According to the Maryland Teaching Staffing Report, the annual attrition percentage continues to decrease, going from 13.3 percent in 2010-2011 to 11.1 percent in 2012-2013 and 9.3 percent in 2013-2014. Although the total attrition percentage is improving, PGCPS continues to have the greatest percentage of attrition compared to neighboring districts as well as the greatest number of teachers that exit the district with less than one to five years of experience. These data confirm that teacher retention is a major problem that significantly impacts PGCPS. These data also support Ingersoll (2003) and Perda (2013) studies regarding the significant number of teachers that leave the profession within their first five years of teaching.

Dawn Essig attended Mount Saint Mary College where she earned her BS in Political Science, Education, and Special Education. Dr. Essig also attended Marist College where she obtained a M.Ed. in Educational Psychology and then pursued her Doctorate in Teacher Leadership from Walden University. As an educator, Dr. Essig taught elementary through high school general and special education while serving as an adjunct professor at Marist College in the Education department. Dr. Essig’s extensive experience and knowledge in technology integration in school districts, certification as a Wilson Reading Specialist and use of MAP assessments and data to make instructional decisions led to being a well-qualified Professional Development Consultant for

Dick networked with the president of TriAmerican during company conferences and maintained a friendly camaraderie. Studies show that salesmen ages twenty six thru thirty five are anxious for advancement and maintain a good level of communication with their higher echelons (Apostolidis, 1980). Relationship networks play a pivotal role in the career outcomes of managers and professionals (Higgings, 2000). Researchers have found networking to be associated with individual access to information, resources, and career sponsorship (Brass & Burkhardt, 1992). Dick Spencer used his networking connections for career advancement after three years as a salesman. He requested a transfer out of the sales department and was granted a position in production. In addition to his sales ability, Dick’s support system could have played an integral role in his sales success. Researchers have linked interpersonal comfort with business success (Allen, Day, & Lentz, 2005). Evidence suggests that relationship closeness has an effect on a person’s ability to develop relationships (Hanoch, 2001). According to Hanoch (2001), “when people know that someone is there for them, the relationship becomes a resource from which they draw strength and enjoyment” (p. 3). This is evident in Dick Spencer’s case. During the first years of his sales career he was happily married and

For the first project requirements, I collected data for the Yankton School District and the Mitchell School District from the South Dakota Department of Education’s website. I specifically looked at each district’s report card that included performance indicators, school performance index, staffing and student population statistics, attendance numbers and high school completion and college and career readiness statistics. Each school district’s report card contained further detailed information and percentages regarding test scores in math, ELA, and science.

1). Consequently, teachers need training and support through professional learning communities (PLC) as they “…have proven to be a cornerstone of effective teaching and, in underperforming schools, a catalyst for improvement” (Farbman, Goldberg, & Miller, 2014, p. 10). As a result, my plan proposes following Claudet’s model of a change agent (2011) by inspiring stakeholders to become collaborative partners in remedying academic gaps. It begins with the faculty analyzing student data scores to prioritize topics, designing a timeframe to meet goals, and identifying the stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. Once this is determined, several teachers would attend summer or fall training sessions to develop strategies to address the learning needs of low-achieving students because “…collective leadership has positive effects on student achievement” (Barth, 2001, p. 12). The trained teachers would provide monthly PLC activities to cultivate developmental and cultural instructional strategies, analyze student progress, share successes, and problem-solve concerns. Measurement of the effectiveness of the training occurs through staff participation, observations, and classroom formative and summative assessments, as recorded through the software programs provided to the teachers at the beginning of the

George Esposito is a Graduate of Saint Francis College in 2013 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education with a concentration in Social Studies. He has a Master’s Degree from Brooklyn College in Social Studies. He has taught at David A. Boody Junior High School for 4 years. George Esposito has been a Teacher Leader for two years where he led teams in analyzing student data, teaching practices, and common planning teams. Throughout his career, George has spoken at the Gates Foundation and Learning Forward Conferences on teacher leadership. George has presented at several locations around the country on Micro-Credentialing and Teacher Leadership.

To further help the veteran teachers and the new teachers coming in, professional development will require an ongoing commitment from all levels of the school organization. There will need to be resources available to help guide the teachers’ professional development. The adoption of professional learning communities (PLC’s) within the school and district supporting them is paramount. The continued development will help the teachers implement PBL (Rosenblatt, 2012)

With the help of a Minneapolis-St. Paul area study participants were selected through the local newspapers, work sites, advertisements, and recruiting at the

Traditionally, teacher development typically occurs through trial and error in the isolated confinements of each teacher’s classroom with some periodic whole-group professional development (Goddard & Goddard, 2007). Within the past few decades, many schools and districts, including ours, have considered and experimented with Professional Learning Communities (PLC) as an alternative framework in guiding a more efficient development program for their teachers. PLCs are focused on enhancing student learning through developing teacher practices. The concept of PLC relies on using structured collaborative sessions amongst teachers within the school to build internal capacity. Through PLCs, teachers critically reflect on current

Once I finished my fort I started to make snowballs. I made so many snowballs they filled a quarter of the fort, “ Oh my gosh, there are so many snowballs, this is unbelievable.” I said shocked. I received a text message from one of my friends, a seventh grader, saying “ We are getting close to the park. The seventh graders are ready to beat you guys.”

Teachers’ leadership and collective expertise are tightly linked to student achievement. A sophisticated new study has found that schools staffed by credentialed and experienced teachers who work together over an extended time generate the largest student achievement gains. Students of less-experienced teachers who had access to the most accomplished colleagues made the very greatest achievement growth gains. Obviously, less-experienced teachers had the greatest margin for improvement. But this finding nonetheless implies that the “master” teachers with whom they worked are spreading their expertise among colleagues. (Wayne, 2003) The question is whether teachers have time to lead or learn from their peers, either informally or through structured professional development experiences. Case studies find that they do not, limiting the cultivation of teacher leaders who can spread their expertise to their colleagues. Teachers Network survey respondents joined their professional networks for a broad variety of reasons, including the ability to secure funding for projects in their classrooms or schools and involvement in