Professional Learning Plans and Procedures for Norwood Public Schools

This page is maintained by Dr. Alexander Wyeth, Assistant Superintendent for the Norwood Public Schools. Suggestions for improvement are always welcome.

Below are links to your respective PL plans for our scheduled in-service time for this year.

The activities identified for this professional learning time have been determined by the district's administration based on the District's Strategic Improvement Plan, driven by student performance data and input from educators.

All educators are strongly encouraged to let their supervisors (principal, directors, department chairs) and/or Dr. Wyeth know what PL you would like offered that would improve your practice and enhance student learning by completing surveys that are administered periodically and/or by completing the live Request/Suggestion Form link below.  Also, please take the time to give feedback on workshops that are offered by completing the Workshop Feedback form in TeachPoint PD Tracking. Thank you.

• Inservice Day Plans and Assignments for 2018-19: This plan was developed collaboratively with the Assistant Superintendent, principals, directors, coordinators, department chairs, and others. Speak with your supervisor if you have specific needs, interests, or suggestions for professional learning.

• CPI  (Nonviolent Crisis Intervention): Initial and RecertificationTraining Dates & List of Staff Trained in CPI with Expiration Dates

• What Do I Need To Do if I want to Take a Professional Day?

Travel/Conference Requests & Reimbursement Procedures

Procedure for Graduate Course Reimbursement--Advanced Approval of Professional Study (AAPS)-The "Blue Form." Note: If you want, once completed and approved by the Superintendent's Office, you can add your graduate credits into TeachPoint for your own record for recertification purposes. Entering the information into TeachPoint does NOT replace the AAPS process.

• SEI Endorsement

• CPR/AED Training Schedule
• List of NPS PL Trainers by Topic
• New Teacher Resources: Mentor Program, Induction Workshops & Needs Assessment
• PDPs and Relicensure Information
• Information for those Seeking Their Professional License
• DESE & Area Professional Development Sites
• Licensure/MTELs & Degree Programs
• Online PD and Courses: Providers and Feedback: Please add your online experiences.
• Area Professional Development Resources
• Professional Learning Forms: Sign In Sheet, Feedback Form, etc. Use only for events NOT in TeachPoint PD Tracking.
• Get Summer Workshop Proposal Form here.

Norwood's Professional Learning Goal: To provide all staff with best practice professional learning activities that are embedded, sustained, and connected to educators' and students' needs.

Food for Thought:

1. "Strategic planning efforts and whole school reform efforts have been ineffective because planning cycles are too long and implementation is too complex and cumbersome, leading to fragmentation and overload.  School reform experts recommend that small groups of teachers (professionals) work collaboratively on relatively short-term goals" (PDK EDge, Sept/Oct 2005). This approach will fit nicely with our new educator evaluation system where teams of teachers can work together on a SMART goal to improve student learning or their own practice.
2. "Start here for improving teaching and learning...[it] starts with a group of teachers who meet regularly as a team to identify essential and valued student learning, develop common formative assessments, analyze current levels of achievement, set achievement goals, and then share and create lessons to improve upon those levels... Importantly, there must be an expectation that this collaborative effort will produce ongoing improvement--and gains in achievement.  If there is anything that the research community agrees on it is this: The right kind of continuous, structured teacher collaboration improves the quality of teaching and pays big, often immediate, dividends in student learning and professional morale in virtually any setting" (Mike Schmoker, Results NOW, ASCD, 2006).
3. We are the sum total of our choices, day to day, minute to minute. Are we making high impact choices: ones that help ourselves and others make a difference in the lives of others?

Going forward: SEI Endorsement Requirements:

"Starting on July 1, 2016, any core academic teacher who is assigned an English learner must either have an SEI Endorsement or must earn one within one calendar year of the date of the assignment." (DESE)

Pathways to Earning the SEI Endorsement, 7/11/17

• Memo from DESE's RETELL site
• Info from MTA on this topic
• Definition of CORE teacher: The following teachers are "core academic teachers" for purposes of providing SEI instruction: • Teachers of students with moderate disabilities; • Teachers of students with severe disabilities; • Subject-area teachers in English, reading or language arts; mathematics, science; civics and government, economics, history, and geography; and early childhood and elementary teachers who teach such content.
• If you do not yet have your porofessional license, you need to focus on that alone. Your licensing agency will need to tell you if your licensing program will meet the new SEI-RETELL and Special Ed requirements.
• For more information see the DESE 2015 Recertification Guidelines Addendum.
• NOTE: All core subject educators who have completed the coursework and qualify for the SEI Endorsement must apply for the endorsement via ELAR no matter which route they have taken to get endorsed. Applying is free and only takes a minute. Complete your SEI Endorsement application online by logging in at http://www.mass.gov/edu/gateway/.
• If you are a core academic teacher, as defined above, who was part of the SY2013-16 cohort years, and you have not earned the endorsement before August 31, 2016, you will not be eligible to renew, advance, or extend your core academic license(s) until you earn the SEI Endorsement. The lack of an endorsement may effect your employability. After July 1, 2016, any non-endorsed core academic teacher who is assigned an ELL student will have one year from the time of that assignment to earn the endorsement or risk non-renewal. Passing the SEI MTEL (cost of $185) is another route to SEI Endorsement.
• If you are a non-CORE teacher with a professional license that needs to be renewed on or after July 1, 2016, it is required that you complete 15 hours (15 PDPs) of training in SEI and in Special education. Click here for all information for Non-CORE teachers. TEC has developed online courses for both SEI and special education (15 PDPs each) that are now available. See below.

ELL & Special Ed Recertification Course Offerings (15 PDPs each) via TEC

ELL and Special Ed educators can take these courses and count them toward their 60 required content PDPs for their primary licenses.

Thanks to our investment with TEC, Norwood educators are now able to enroll in TEC's ELL and SPED online recertification courses (15 PDPs each) at no cost. Please use your school/district email address to access these no-cost to you courses.

The registration form has been programmed to recognize the districts who have sponsored the three courses and allow staff members to proceed at no-cost, as long as they use their school email address. Register for each in the green banners below.

Course #1: Strategies to Enhance Instruction for English Language Learners in the Classroom

In this course, participants will review and explore teaching strategies to support English language learners. Participants will also explore technology resources that can support English language learners within the classroom.

For more information or a complete syllabus: http://courses.edtechleaders.org/tec/tec_ell/tec_details.html

Register for this 15 PDP online ELL course

Course #2: Engaging All Students with Differentiated Instruction

Participants in this course will explore many strategies and tools that will help them to plan lessons so that all students are appropriately challenged and supported. Participants will also explore technology tools that will facilitate instruction of students with diverse learning needs and strategies to differentiate assessment.

For more information or a complete syllabus: http://courses.edtechleaders.org/tec/tec_diffinst/tec_details.html

Register for this 15 PDP online Special Ed Course.

Behavioral Health and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) 15 Hour, 4 Module Course via TEC

PDPs and Relicensure (Updated March 2019: Please Read):

For relicensure purposes, PDPs earned outside of our inservice days are the sole responsibility of each individual to keep track of. Keep reading.

All educators need to develop and Individualized Professional Development Plan (IPDP) that is approved by your supervisor. "The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s license renewal process requires all educators to work collaboratively with their district to develop an Individual Professional Development Plan (IPDP) for continued growth and development. This IPDP must be aligned with the educational needs of the school and/or district and enhance the ability of the educator to improve student learning. Educators who are employed in a Massachusetts public school may elect to use the professional practice goals established under their Educator Plan [part of Norwood's evaluatioin system in TeachPoint] for license renewal, or in combination with the professional learning goals in their IPDP."

An educator only needs to earn PDPs if s/he holds an active professional license from Mass DESE that needs to be renewed at end of 5 year period as indicated and dated on the educator’s current license. The recertification process is educator driven and is based on the honor system. Norwood’s administration only gives PDPs if we run the courses, workshops, etc., on district time (paid by Norwood and delivered in Norwood). Any educator can take PD activities on his or her own (online or off) and count the time/PDPs toward recertification as one sees fit and as allowed by the DESE Regulations (per Recertification Guidelines of 2017: http://www.doe.mass.edu/licensure/academic-prek12/guidelines-recert-ma-educators.pdf ), BUT if you get audited (and you might), you will need to be able to prove you took and completed the listed activities, that it fits your recertification needs/requirements, and that there was new learning involved.  Also, your PDPs need to tie to one or more of your Individual Professional Development Goals that need to tie to one or more of the district's goals. I suggest that you keep a personal folder for all your valid PDP evidence. You should refer to and access the PD documents and forms listed in the table below.

How many PDPs are needed: "Effective July 28, 2017, the minimum required content and pedagogy distribution of PDPs for all academic educators renewing a Primary area Professional level license has been amended. Within the required 150 PDPs necessary to renew a Primary area license, all academic educators will now only need a minimum of 15 PDPs in content, compared to the previous minimum of 60 PDPs in content. In addition, 15 PDPs in pedagogy is required along with the afore mentioned 15 PDPs in SEI or ESL and 15 PDPs related to effective schooling for students with disabilities and instruction of students with diverse learning styles. The remaining 90 PDPs is left at the discretion of the educator and the employing school district. This new distribution of PDPs should allow educators with a professional level license to focus on professional development that will have a larger impact on their teaching and 2 the needs of their students. In addition to the changes to renewing a Primary area, similar changes were made with the requirements to renew an Additional area Professional level license. Educators renewing an Additional area will continue to need 30 PDPs; however, only 15 of those 30 PDPs will need to be in the content area of the additional license.

How do I know what I can count for my re-licensure? It depends on your specific license. Go to http://www.doe.mass.edu/lawsregs/603cmr7.html?section=06 for details. Then to http://www.mass.gov/edu/government/departments-and-boards/ese/programs/educator-effectiveness/licensure/academic-prek-12/academic-pre-k-12-forms.html

In general: 1 PDP per hour of new learning. If new learning is at graduate level (for graduate credit), then you get 1.5 PDPs per hour of learning. If you are a PD instructor, then you can get 2 PDPs per hour of instruction, for the first time the course is delivered only in five year period. Curriculum Development: 15 PDPs per curriculum unit up to 60 PDPs per 5-year cycle (documents must be reviewed and approved by Supervisor). "School-based Activity": 1 PDP per hour with max of 30 PDPs in 5-year cycle. For more details, see DESE's Recertification Guides, pages 18-22.

About iPass & PDPs: Every educator/specialist is given an iPass account when they are hired. If you do not know how to access your iPass account, contact Randi Johnson in the Technology Office. iPass has a Professional Development section under "My Data" that is used to keep track of any district run (in district) professional development activities. Educators who attend an in district workshop or course are given PDPs by the Assistant Superintendent for their work and this is entered into iPass for the educator's future reference for recertification. We do not enter any other (out of district) professional development activities into iPass. Each educator must keep their own records for this work, and it is advised that they do so for in-district work as well.

Don't forget you can now record all your PDP activiteis in TeachPoint and attach (upload) documentation of work for approval by your supervisor by submitting a Record My Credits form.

List of Norwood educators who can lead professional development training or workshops in various areas:

If you and a group of your colleagues are interested in being trained by one of our educators listed above, please ask your supervisor if arrangements can be made through Dr. Wyeth. We can try to find time during our scheduled in-service time or outside of the school day.

DESE Professional Development Website

Some links to Area Professional Development sites: 

• http://www.tec-coop.org/course-list (TEC: Norwood is a member district)
• http://www.accept.org/professional-development (ACCEPT)
• Education Collaborative (EDCO)
• Norfolk County Teachers Association (NCTA). Online options are available.
• Teachers21 Course Catalogue
• Northeast Consortium for Staff Development (NCSD) via Merrimack Education Center. Many coursesare online.
• http://www.doe.mass.edu/candi/institutes/11/default.html (DESE PD Institutes: These are typically high quality and worth checking out.)

Licensure and Degree Programs and Online Courses

(There are many others you can find online, but these are a few that have approached Norwood. If you would like others to be included here, please let me know.):

Licensure Requirements & MTELs

• American International College
• Bridgewater State University
• Bay Path College, Longmeadow, MA
• Cambridge College
• Endicott College
• Simmons College
• www.wheelock.edu/onlinecourses
• University of Phoenix (online)
• EdTech Leaders Online
• https://www.taskstream.com/ts/umassd_teach/UrbanSouth_2012.html
• Some great on-line courses for content and IT can be found at: http://www.pbs.org/teacherline/. Check it out!
• Another good source for IT PD is http://star-online.org/index.html
• And another: http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/
• http://www.collaborative.org/programs/licensure

List of Professional Development Forms and DESE Guidelines

Forms have been provided in both PDF and Microsoft Word format. Right mouse button on the Word link, and select 'Save As' to save to your computer. You will then be able to use Microsoft Word to fill out the form. If you want to print the form and fill it in, choose the PDF format and then print.

• Helping Students Manage Stress and Anxiety (4 hours)
• Preventing and Addressing Bullying In and Out of School (4 hours)
• Creating Supportive and Safe Learning Environments for LGBTQ Students (4 hours)
• Suicide Prevention and Postvention (2 hours)