Professional Learning Communities Conference 2009

John McKinney and Heather Royce (Associate Principals)

• $3,000 — Cover lodging, meals, and car rental for John McKinney and Heather Royce to attend a conference in Phoenix, Arizona, in February, 2009. The conference will enhance their understanding of the Professional Learning Communities concept which will be implemented in the coming years at SME.
• All SME students will be impacted by the implementation of Professional Learning Communities in the coming years.
• John McKinney and Heather Royce will use late start and early release in-service times to train teachers how to utilize the concept of Professional Learning Communities.

John McKinney and Heather Royce will use late start and early release in-service times to train teachers how to utilize the concept of Professional Learning Communities. The idea is to measure objectively the results being achieved by each teacher using common assessments constructed by teachers within each department. Using a team approach during weekly department meetings, teachers will share their kids’ results on assessments and identify which ideas or teaching practices worked best with each other. There will be extensive collaboration and accountability among teachers.

In other words, teachers will help teachers. This will lift all teachers and students up to a uniformly high level.

Grant awarded September 2008