District 99 outlines professional-development measures and a yearlong 'Personalized Professional Learning' program
Loading...
Summary
District 99 administrators presented a multi-track professional-development plan and a yearlong, teacher-led 'Personalized Professional Learning' program, plus a new feedback survey the district will use to measure PD quality and adjust offerings.
District 99 administrators described a districtwide strategy to monitor and improve professional development (PD) for certified staff, support staff and custodial/maintenance/grounds (CMG) teams.
Jay (Jake) Gimbel, associate principal for curriculum and instruction, said the district is building its PD monitoring around relevance to employees’ roles, collaboration, and connection. “We want everything to be relevant and specific to each person's role who's receiving this PD,” Jay said.
Administrators described three broad PD tracks: (1) district institute days (three multi-day clusters), (2) building-level PD and department breakout time, and (3) choice-based offerings such as Innovation Labs. Keith Bales, assistant principal at North, described Innovation Labs as half-day sessions where teachers try new practices and “bounce ideas off of” peers.
Rob (district staff) and others described Personalized Professional Learning (PPL) — a yearlong, teacher-led program designed to build collective efficacy, a concept the presenters linked to research by John Hattie. Rob said PPL groups choose a topic for the year, reflect at critical points and present learning to build trust and classroom application. “It was designed by our teachers, and it still continues to be led by our teachers,” he said.
The district also described new feedback tools intended to capture consistent, comparable data across PD offerings; presenters said the tool has already yielded more than 900 responses. The survey focuses on relevance, effectiveness, collaboration and connection and includes a short open-ended question for detailed feedback.
Administrators described PD for different employee groups: support staff (including paraprofessionals, nurses, job coaches), CMG teams (topic-specific sessions for HVAC, new cleaning equipment and safety), administrative assistants (training for an upcoming Infinite Campus student-information rollout) and campus security (training on new camera-software tools and AI-enabled features).
Speakers highlighted external partnerships: cooperative training with SASET for paraprofessionals, insurance-company-led safety training for CMG staff, and vendor/training relationships for new camera software. Presenters said the district plans to repeat cross-departmental showcases at the end of the semester to surface teacher work from PPL groups and align PD planning with survey data.
Board members asked about licensure and continuing-education credit; presenters said institute-day hours and attendance processes meet state license renewal needs. Administrators said the district will present PD adjustments to the Innovation Steering Committee and will continue to refine offerings based on the survey feedback.
