Williamson County PuBliC sCHools uPdate

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www.schoolimprovement.com | www.PD360.com

A School Improvement Network Product

District Profile

Williamson County Schools is located in a scenic area of eastern Tennessee, serving 30,700 students in 37 schools. It is proud to be a student-centered, academ-ically-enriching district that encourages the collabora-tive educational efforts of students, teachers, staff, and community. Here are just a few of the district’s aca-demic highlights:

All high schools have Advanced Placement (AP) Pro- >grams with 24 different courses offered.

Nineteen Williamson County students have been >named as National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists for the 2009-2010 school year.

During the 2008-2009 school year, Williamson County >students continued to earn achievement scores that ranked among the highest in the State of Tennessee.

The American College Test is a graduation requirement >and Williamson’s countywide score of 22.8 exceeds the national average of 21.1 and the state average of 20.6.

K-12 student attendance for 2008-2009 was 95.9 per- >cent. That rate surpasses the Tennessee Department of Education goal of 93 percent.

Previous District Needs and Solution

Some of the features Williamson had previously looked for in a PD product were:

Common Language and Common Practice >

More Convenient and Accessible Professional Develop- >ment

A Job-Embedded Resource of Research-Based Best >Practices

More Effective Site-Based Training >

The professional learning resource Williamson found was PD 360 and Karen Hawkins, Professional Develop-ment Coordinator in Williamson County Schools, has been exceptionally happy with it. She felt that it was a “natural piece” to fit in the district’s PD program.

About PD 360

PD 360 is the leading on-demand professional learning resource for educators with over 600,000 subscribers. Teachers, administrators, professional learning commu-nities, coaches, etc., have access to over 1,400 indexed and searchable video segments that present real, best-practice classroom examples. Each segment includes content from respected educational experts such as Michael Fullan, Rick DuFour, Doug Reeves, Rick Stig-gins, and many others. PD 360 can be used to create a structured learning experience for an individual teacher, professional learning community, or entire school. It bridges the gap between training and classroom imple-mentation with job-embedded follow-up, tracking, and reflection tools. PD 360 also gives educators access to an online community of teaching professionals that al-lows interaction and collaboration either within a district or across the United States and around the world. See a demonstration at www.pd360.com

School Improvement Network’s previous case study of Williamson County Schools was written not long after the district purchased PD 360. (See it at http://www.schoolimprovement.com/casestudies/Williamson-County-Schools.html.) Now in its 4th year using this professional development solution, it is a perfect time to assess the effectiveness of PD 360 as a viable solution.

www.schoolimprovement.com | www.PD360.com

Driving Usage and Implementation

These are some of the ways Williamson has continued to engage its educators in PD 360 usage:

Re-Licensure > PD 360 usage may be applied in part toward a teacher’s re-licensure as well as used in Professional Growth Plans.

Administrators Use PD 360 as a Training Tool > At a recent district-wide professional development day, educators were divided into groups and shown a PD 360 program on assessment. Afterwards, they discussed what they had seen and how to implement it in their classrooms.

Teachers Who Struggle > Principals can help struggling teachers by emailing spe-cific segment links to the individual showing what best practices look like in needed areas. A teacher’s PD 360 usage is tracked in their Professional Growth Plan as a way to chronicle a teacher goals and development.

“When teachers respond to the reflection questions at the end of a learning segment, it becomes so much more than just an exercise in watching.”

Karen Hawkins Professional Development Coordinator Williamson County Schools, TN

Benefits

The added benefits that Williamson County Schools has experienced and enjoyed with continued use of PD 360 have been many and varied. These include:

Updated Content > New content is continually being added to the over 1,400 indexed and searchable video segments giving William-son the most current and complete PD library available.

High-Quality Product > PD 360 is education’s most comprehensive and innova-tive on-demand professional development library. All content in research-based, proven, and is ideal for Wil-liamson’s educators, as they instantly find answers to their questions and watch over 1,400 real, best-practice classroom examples.

Renowned Experts > Over 100 respected education experts are available at each Williamson teacher’s fingertips whenever they need them. Educators no longer have to wait to attend workshops and conferences, or pay the high costs as-sociated with them.

Search Features > With hundreds of fully indexed and searchable learn-ing segments, teachers and administrators can easily find the answers they require. PD 360 has everything Williamson teachers need to immediately improve their teaching and implement best practices.

Customized District Alignment > Williamson can keep everyone focused on what mat-ters most by customizing PD 360 to align with its own individual state, system, and school objectives.

Individual Tracking > Teachers can reflect on their own learning and growth by using the tracking tools and reflection questions at the end of each segment while also reviewing their previous entries.

“By making usage so easily available, PD 360 recognizes that not all learning takes place in a classroom. Because they are capable of using it anytime and anywhere, teachers feel it is respectful of them and their needs.”

Karen Hawkins Professional Development Coordinator Williamson County Schools, TN

As School Improvement Network continues to update and develop PD 360, Williamson County Schools will have an ongoing and sustainable resource for profes-sional learning. Williamson has evolved and grown and so has PD 360. And it will continue to do so while supporting the developmental needs of educators.

About School Improvement Network

Founded in 1991 by two school teachers, School Im-provement Network empowers educators with compre-hensive, research-based, professional learning tools that build teacher expertise to foster greater achievement among their students. As the home of The Video Journal of Education, PD 360, and The 360 Learning Frame-work, School Improvement Network offers content from the largest group of educational experts, the broadest range of topics, and the most classroom examples any-where. School Improvement Network boasts the world’s largest educator-verified, on-demand professional development network with over 600,000 users. To learn more about School Improvement Network’s dynamic resources, visit www.schoolimprovement.com