Sept. 27—DIXON — After years of low attendance during summer training, Dixon Public Schools is working to offer additional professional development training to their teachers throughout the school year.
At Wednesday’s school board meeting, Assistant Superintendent Doug Stansford told the board that the district will move away from its “summer symposium,” a multi-week summer training program for teachers, and instead focus on offering that training once or twice a month throughout the school. years during after-school hours.
The symposium is something the district has offered for a long time, and over the years the administration has noticed a steady decline in participation, Stansford said.
In an effort to increase engagement, DPS District 170 partnered with the Rock Falls and Sterling school districts about four years ago so it could offer additional sessions. There was a slight increase in visitors after that, but it has continued to decline since then, he says.
At that point, the province decided to investigate the problem.
One of the problems, Stansford pointed out, is that the school district has “a pretty rigorous summer school program.” There are more than 25 teachers involved and about 10 to 20 assistants, he said.
Additionally, district teachers have tested many new programs and new assessments over the past four years. At Dixon High School, for example, the district added a brand new agriculture program to its curriculum this year.
“By the time the end of May rolls around, they’re pretty spent, so if we ask them to turn around the next weekend and come to practice, we can kind of understand where they’re coming from,” Stansford said.
By offering this training during the school year, the board hopes to increase participation and that the training will be even more effective and valuable for the teacher.
Stansford explained that each session would cover something “directly related to what they are currently doing in the classroom.”
At the district’s last curriculum committee meeting, the board asked the facilitators and administrators in attendance to ask their teachers what they think would be a “high-impact professional development that they would value year-round,” Stansford said. At the next curriculum meeting in October, the district plans to use these suggestions to develop future training sessions.
“Part of offering professional development hours [participants] must also complete an evaluation that looks at the relationship with the position they fulfill and whether there is anything else we need to follow up on,” says Chief Inspector Margo Empen.
Throughout the year, the district also hosts professional development trainings by bringing in coaches to work with staff. Stansford said coaches from Amplify, a company that offers curriculum and professional development for teachers, have recently been working with staff in the district’s three elementary buildings.
Employees who want to receive training will still have the opportunity this summer through the Regional Office of Education.
“[Teachers] are always looking for these opportunities, so it’s nice to make it as easy as possible,” said Linda Wegner, school board president.
In Illinois, teachers must renew their professional teaching licenses every five years. To do that, they must complete a certain number of professional development hours and pay a fee, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
“I commend you for noticing a problem and doing something about it instead of just continuing with the same old thing,” Wegner said.
