Professional Development

PD

Program Administration 



Our schools believe that every educator should be engaged in continuous growth. To this end, the district provides educators with a broad range of professional learning opportunities. These opportunities include formal coursework, ongoing instructional coaching, collaborative peer support, and informal conversation.

To reach maximum potential for impact, professional development should adhere to the following characteristics as they each support the process of assessing need, constructing new understanding, implementing new learning as appropriate, evaluating impact of new implementation.

 

  • Focus on student learning outcomes.
  • Relevancy to learner’s context
  • Collaboration across the system
  • Integration into core work schedule
  • Expectation of continuous improvement
  • Examination of Data and Self-Reflection
  • Intention to develop internal leadership

 

The end goal of all professional development is to help facilitate educators' change in practice to improve outcomes for all students. To make this goal a reality we must fundamentally believe that all people in the system are deserving and capable of continuous growth.

Induction and Mentoring Overview

In order to support new and novice educators, the district maintains a multi-faceted induction and mentoring program. The program includes an new staff orientation, one on one mentoring during the educator's first year, and group mentoring in subsequent years. The program strives to make the transition into Woonsocket as smooth as possible covering such topics as best practices, acculturation, reflective practice, and our evaluation process. More information can be found on the dedicated Induction & Mentoring Page.