At a Glance
Lenape Technical School has created a school schedule that provides teachers two hours each Friday to engage in professional development activities.
Overview
Administrators at Lenape Technical School (Lenape Tech), a comprehensive career technical school, have implemented a school schedule designed to ensure that instructor professional development takes place in a consistent and on-going manner. To accomplish this, they created a school schedule that includes a student early dismissal every Friday.
The purpose is to provide teachers with two hours every Friday to actively engage with each other and administrators in various professional development activities, including educational team meetings, integration project planning time, school wide committees, technology training, PA Department of Education mandated training, and special education student update meetings.
Origin / Implementation
Administrators at Lenape Tech established the modified schedule in the 2013-14 school year. They did so because they believed that there were not enough professional education days in the school calendar to accomplish all that needed to be done throughout the year. In addition, research suggests that in order to be effective, teacher professional development must be ongoing over time to allow teachers time to process and practice, of sufficient duration to allow discussion and teacher input, focused on important content, and embedded in the work of professional learning communities that support ongoing improvements in the practice.
Results / Impact
As a result of the school schedule with dedicated professional development time, much committee work has been completed and mandatory training has been accomplished easily. Teachers report a feeling of self-efficacy, confidence in their working relationship with administration and other teachers. In addition, the school culture and work ethic of the professionals in the school is highly positive.
Contact
Lenape Technical School
Karen Brock, Administrative Director
Email: brockar@lenape.k12.pa.us