THE Journal (7/30) reports on how three school districts across America are using iPads in their districts to benefit professional development of their teachers. For example, Charleston County School District in South Carolina uses the iPads to provide flipped PD to its teachers to deliver blended learning for recertification courses. The article also looks at how a Colorado School district is using the technology to provide teacher support, and how a California school district is using it for webinar-based training and student instruction
Bill Would Set Standards For Professional Development Programs
Tamara Hiler, social policy and politics fellow at Third Way, and Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, director of social policy and politics for Third Way, write at US News & World Report’s (3/19) “World Report” blog on the subject of teacher development and whether it is “improving teacher outcomes.” They add that Reps. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ) have introduced the Great Teaching and Leading for Great Schools Act, which is intended to “ensure that professional development for teachers and principals actually leads to increased student learning.” Should it be passed, they say it would “be a stark change from the status quo,” in which “almost no empirical evidence currently exists” regarding professional development programs. They view the new proposal as resting on Race to the Top “and other education reforms that now connect teachers to their students’ achievement.” They also note that the National Education Association “has endorsed” the bill.