Professional Development
Defense Department Taps Partner for Overseas Teacher PD
The United States Department of Defense has chosen a partner for a possible five-year contract to provide
professional development to teachers at its elementary schools on
military
installations in foreign countries.
Catapult
Learning,
which provides professional development to K-12 teachers, will use a
combination of face-to-face instructors and virtual learning tools at
168
schools in 11 countries and two U.S. territories run by the Department
of
Defense Education Activity (DoDEA). The contract is for one
base year with the
option of four more following that.
Eighty
of Catapult Learning's instructors will
spread out to implement system-wide professional learning and literacy
model
units that the company has developed with the DoDEA's
primary goal in mind: successful adoption of the College and Career
Ready
Standards. The 80 instructors began in-person professional development
sessions
at all 168 schools in June and will follow up with a virtual support
network.
The
DoDEA schools employ about 15,000
employees who serve 74,000 children of active-duty military and
civilian
families.
"Partnering
with the Department of
Defense to improve the quality of education for the families serving in
our
military is an honor and a privilege," said Catapult Learning CEO
Jeffrey
Cohen. "We are thrilled to have been selected for this important work.
With 40
years of experience and a team of experts dedicated to providing
professional
development to school leaders and teachers, we are confident in our
ability to
increase student achievement across the DoDEA schools."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.