District reports large professional development volume, links coaching to academic gains
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Summary
District staff reported 642 professional learning options, about 409,000 total staff learning hours last year, and 18,853 coaching interactions; staff said targeted PD correlated with improvements on literacy and math measures for some student groups.
District staff reported on Tuesday that Northwest ISD offered an extensive professional learning program last year, including 642 distinct learning options, about 409,000 staff professional learning hours, and nearly 19,000 documented coaching interactions by instructional coaches.
Dr. Espinosa, who presented the district effectiveness/professional development report, said the district27s approach focuses on personalized, job-embedded support: side-by-side coaching, asynchronous options, unit previews, differentiated academies and curriculum documents with recommended strategies. She told the board teachers earned roughly "409,000 hours of professional learning" and staff offered 642 learning options.
Outcomes cited: The presentation highlighted targeted literacy resources and curricular supports. Staff reported a 7% to 16% gain in a YouFLI measure that outperformed state and national comparisons in certain grades, a notable increase in third- and fourth-grade revision work, and a 45% increase in STAAR passing rates for students in a LitLab intervention who previously failed STAAR. Staff also said campuses that documented more coaching interactions saw correlations with higher state rating gains; coaches logged 18,853 coaching interactions districtwide last year.
Why it matters: The district linked professional learning to campus improvement plans and said training and monitoring are part of a broader strategy to improve student performance. The transcript includes slides and numerical summaries but does not include the underlying datasets or school-by-school disaggregated results.
Caveats: The transcript reports improvement percentages and coaching counts as presented by staff; it does not include external validation of those gains or the detailed data tables necessary for independent verification.
Next steps: District staff will continue to align professional learning with campus and district improvement plans and to monitor implementation through PLCs and learning walks.