Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
District outlines multi-year professional development plan, adopts Panorama as MTSS platform and revises school calendar
Loading...
Summary
Committee reviewed a multi-year PD plan focused on equity and MTSS alignment, reported higher PD feedback rates (52% vs. a 30% baseline), announced pilot tools (IXL) and Panorama to replace Linkit for MTSS, and presented calendar revisions including changes to June 2026 and draft 2026–27 election-day adjustments.
At the April 14 Educational Affairs Committee meeting, Wallingford-Swarthmore School District staff presented a multi-year professional development plan intended to strengthen curriculum alignment, data-driven instruction and supports for diverse learners, and described steps to evaluate the plan’s impact.
The plan’s priorities include teaching diverse learners through differentiation, curriculum development and alignment, professional learning communities, responsiveness to intervention in an MTSS framework, social-emotional learning and culturally responsive practices. "Our goal was to create a professional learning plan that reflects our commitment to excellence, equity, and alignment," the chair said when introducing the plan.
Staff described tools and pilots tied to the plan. The district will pilot IXL at targeted elementary levels and expand Schoology to K–2. They will transition the literacy screener to DIBELS/MCAS from AIMSweb. For MTSS and enterprise data, staff said Panorama will replace Linkit as an MTSS-first platform to house data and support interventions; staff clarified Panorama is not an academic assessment platform but does include SEL surveys administered twice a year.
On evaluation, a presenter said the district has been tracking three metrics after PD sessions: reception (participant response), effectiveness (reported application by teachers) and meaningfulness for students. "From a baseline in 24–25, where we had about 30% rate of return on feedback, at the end of this year for our major professional learning sessions we were up to 52% of consistent systematic feedback," the presenter said, noting cabinet-level follow-up and efforts to increase participation at the session close.
Staff also outlined calendar revisions: for 2025–26, some snow days were converted to makeup days, June 11 changed from a half day to a full student day and June 12 will be the last student day on a modified schedule with staff PD moved to June 15. For 2026–27 (draft, pending board approval) May 17 is proposed as a full school day and May 18 as a staff PD/closed day to accommodate elections. Committee members asked about effects on graduation timing and whether the May PD day intersects cultural observances; staff said seniors’ graduation timing is unchanged and noted the draft calendar would be presented to the full board.
The committee did not take final votes on calendar adoption; staff said the calendar and PD plans will be presented again at the board level for approval.
