Loudoun, Garland Adopt 'On-Demand' Professional Development
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Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia and Garland Independent School District in Texas have signed on with School Improvement Network for its PD 360, an online, "on-demand" professional development system that provides about instructional video content for teachers, administrators, and other staff.
Targeted toward larger districts with staff dispersed over wide areas, PD 360 provides video content covering topics ranging from differentiated instruction to assessment to working with ELL students. It offers tracking and reporting, digitized guidebooks, customization for state and district standards, and other technologies to aid with professional development.
"As one of the fastest growing school districts in the country, we had to find ways to deliver quality professional development to our 4,800 staff members," said Preston L. Coppels, Loudoun's director of instructional services, in a statement released Thursday. "PD 360 allows the district, as well as schools and teachers, to design professional development that provides comprehensive training anytime, anywhere."
"Our district was focusing our staff development efforts on classroom instruction, but our teachers were asking for more modeling and explanation than we were currently providing using traditional staff development environments," said Butch Sloan, executive director of school improvement at Garland ISD. "We were also trying to address the 'one size doesn't fit all' feedback from teachers who wanted more differentiated staff development. When we found PD 360, we felt it would allow us to address these concerns and move our current staff development to a whole new level. So far, PD 360 has exceeded our expectations."
Loudoun serves about 54,000 students in 72 schools. Garland ISD serves about 57,000 students in 74 schools.
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About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com.
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