Professional Development | News

Delaware District Adopts Professional Development Program To Develop Instructional Leadership

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 12/15/11

Delaware's Christina School District has chosen a new professional development partner "to meet the goal of supporting school-based administrators and teacher leaders in their instructional leadership roles," according to information released by the district.

Specifically, the district has implemented ASCD's Capacity-Building solution, a customizable and consultative program that can be delivered on-site, remotely, or in a blended environment. The program is available to schools, districts, and regional service agencies.

The program, which focuses on "building awareness, skill development, implementation, and maintenance of targeted educational behaviors over time," was launched with a full day of professional development led by Pete Hall, according to information released by ASCD. Hall, currently the principal at Shaw Middle School in Spokane, WA, is the author of Building Teachers' Capacity for Success: A Collaborative Approach for Coaches and School Leaders.

Features of the program include:

• A collaborative framework designed to help administrators, coaches, and teacher leaders work together;
• School-level action plans and follow-up activities designed to integrate school-based professional development activities; and
• The creation of leadership learning meetings for leaders to discuss implementation efforts.

A second phase of leadership development will focus on differentiated instruction for the district's diverse student population.

"Christina School District strives to create a system of education where research-based teaching and learning cultivates students of distinction at high levels. To help us achieve this vision, we sought a professional development partner that would listen to, understand, and design a solution to meet the specific leadership development requests generated by our administrators and aligned with our district-level Race to the Top plan," said Judi Coffield, director of K-12 services for the Christina School District. "Together with ASCD, we were able to create a leadership development program that is empowering our school leaders to support the success of each learner."
The largest district in Delaware, Christina serves approximately 16,800 students with more than 2,500 staff. More information is available at the district's Web site.

Formerly the Association for Supervision of Curriculum Development, ASCD is a nonprofit educational leadership organization that focuses on "best practices and policies for the success of each learner," according to information on the organization's Web site. The association was founded in 1943, and currently has 160,000 members in 148 countries.

Visit ascd.org for more information about ASCD's Capacity-Building professional development program.