Professional Development | News

Killeen ISD Adopts ASCD's PD in Focus

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 09/06/11

The Killeen Independent School District has implemented ASCD's professional development solution, PD in Focus.

Killeen ISD, with more than 40,000 students, is located next to Fort Hood, the United States Military's largest active duty armored post. As a result, many of the district's staff are spouses of service members deployed overseas. "Thus the military spouse has limited capacity to attend scheduled professional development events after school due to personal responsibilities at home," according to information released by ASCD. To meet this challenge, the district needed a professional development program available to teachers online.

PD in Focus features an online and on demand video library arranged by topics such as differentiated instruction, literacy strategies, and best practices in action. Other features of the service include:

• The ability for teacher leaders and administrators to create groups and assignments;
• Progress monitoring;
• Downloadable reading material and activities;
• Private online journals;
• An online host designed to eliminate the need for training or ongoing facilitation;
• Links to other ASCD resources; and
• The built-in ability for educators to collaborate around videos and other materials.

"ASCD's PD in Focus was the logical choice to meet the district's professional development needs," said Killeen ISD Chief Academic Officer Diana Miller. "We were seeking a partner that would work with us to identify our unique professional development needs and provide an effective solution, but also support our implementation of that solution."

Founded in 1943, ASCD is a nonprofit educational leadership organization with more than 160,000 members in 148 countries.

Killeen ISD serves the communities of Killeen, Fort Hood, Harker Heights, and Nolanville with 49 schools and approximately 3,600 educators.

More information about ASCD's PD in Focus is available at pdinfocus.ascd.org.