Professional Development | News

Atlanta Public Schools Chooses Online ASCD Tools for Teacher Professional Development

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 11/28/12

As part of a five-year strategic plan to increase student performance in the district, Atlanta Public Schools has adopted a new set of online professional development resources for its teachers. The district, which serves about 50,000 students, will be using ASCD's  PD In Focus and PD Online. The nonprofit ASCD is a membership organization that promotes best practices and policies in education. It will be one of four organizations providing online professional development services to the district.

PD In Focus is a Web-based resource for access to videos and related materials that can help teachers learn about the Common Core State Standards, formative assessments, literacy strategies, and other teaching topics. PD Online delivers multimedia and digital content to meet professional development needs of individual instructors and groups.

"In order to meet our goal of providing students with a rigorous, high-quality education, Atlanta Public Schools must place highly effective teachers and leaders--supported by targeted, research-based instructional models--in classrooms," said Kristal Ayres, the district's director of professional development. "To develop those individuals, we sought professional development partners whose content would connect the work of great thought leaders in education to work being done by educators in the classroom. Through our new partnership with ASCD, we now have a flexible, scalable professional development resource that helps us meet that need."

When the tools have been implemented, content will be linked to teachers' individual professional development plans for tracking by the district.