Prince of Peace Catholic School faculty gathers twice a month on early dismissal days to learn!
In the past several years the faculty has taken courses taught on site by Principal Nancy Peart. The professional development goals over the past two years have aligned with the state initiative of implementation of the Iowa Core (Common Core). Over the past several years a leadership team has attended all of the workshops sponsored by the Area Education Agency to help schools navigate the requirements for implementation. The efforts of implementation have focused on content, effective teaching and assessment.
Peart has taught several classes to faculty on formative assessment, providing effective feedback to students to advance their learning and on Dr. Robert Marzano’s Art and Science of Teaching, which provides excellent research and effective strategies to enhance student learning. Peart states, “Because our staff development funds are limited, providing onsite training for teachers is an effective use of dollars. Teachers are able to earn relicensure credit, learn research based practices and they don’t have to travel anywhere. I believe they appreciate the convenient opportunity.”
Teachers are also working in collaborative teams to implement strategies they have learned in their classrooms. This requires brief team meetings, planning observation times and peer feedback after observations have taken place. This is a cycle of continuous improvement for faculty which is based on the Iowa Professional Development Model.
