District presents 2025–26 professional development plan focused on equity and evaluation

Sept. 9, 2025 — The Education Affairs Committee heard a presentation of the district's 2025'26 professional development plan, which the presenters said is built around three pillars'excellence, equity and cultural proficiency, and alignment'and is intended to support staff growth and help close opportunity gaps. The plan is designed to align stakeholder priorities with state-required training and to provide district-, department- and building-level professional learning. Committee members were also shown an evaluation framework that uses immediate feedback collected in the district's My Learning Plan system and a set of follow-up metrics to assess whether training is producing expected changes for staff and, later, for students. Why it matters: The plan combines stakeholder priorities with trainings the Pennsylvania Department of Education requires districts to provide, and district leaders said the evaluation work will be used to document compliance and to guide future professional learning investments. District presenters described the plan's priorities as teaching diverse learners through differentiation, curriculum and alignment, instructional coaching and peer collaboration, responsiveness interventions (RTI/MTSS and PBIS), social-emotional learning, effective assessment of growth and achievement, and culturally responsive practices. Presenters said required topics mandated by the state and federal education departments are embedded in the plan so the district remains compliant. The plan includes three delivery levels: districtwide sessions aligned to strategic priorities; department-level learning for content teams (for example, special education and student services); and building-level, job-embedded collaborative time for school-specific needs. Presenters emphasized principals and building staff will tailor building-level work to local needs. A built-in flexible professional learning day is scheduled for Nov. 26, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving; the district described that day as offering virtual and asynchronous options to promote staff wellness while continuing progress on priorities. The district also plans multi-year outlines and said the current work is the first year of a longer professional learning framework. On evaluation, Dr. Leslie Pratt (district staff member leading the evaluation overview) said the district will start with two kinds of evidence''direct evidence (attendance, materials distributed) and indirect evidence (participant perception and willingness to apply learning)'and later expand to supporting evidence that ties training to student outcomes. "How do we know this is working for us as an organization? How do we know this is working for our teachers? How do we know if it's doing things that are good for kids?" Pratt said. The district will collect quantitative and narrative feedback after sessions via My Learning Plan (also referred to as the district's professional learning management platform). Presenters said the My Learning Plan feedback is not anonymous and uses a four-point Likert scale that forces a positive or negative response; narrative comments will be reviewed by principals and directors and used for immediate follow-up when issues are raised. Committee members asked whether teachers and principals were involved in creating the priorities; presenters said a needs assessment and Act 48 committee input informed the priorities and that the top priorities were consistent across stakeholder groups. Members also asked about multi-year planning; presenters said two- and three-year outlines are planned but the current presentation focused on the first-year implementation and its evaluation. Committee discussion noted the district must demonstrate compliance to the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the district's comprehensive plan (submitted every three years) and that the professional development plan will be one of the supplemental documents uploaded to the state system. A board member asked whether state funds specifically support professional learning days; presenters said the state provides general funds but not a dedicated line item for these specific days. No formal action or vote on the plan was taken at the meeting. Board members expressed general support and requested that evaluation results be shared with the board and with Act 48 committee members as the year progresses. The committee moved on to the next agenda item at the end of the presentation.