Degree Date

12-2018

Document Type

Dissertation - Public Access

Degree Name

Ed.D. Doctor of Education

Academic Discipline

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Harrington Gibson

Second Advisor

Dr. Sandra Stringer

Abstract

This paper advocates for a local policy connecting a standards-based district professional learning plan to individual school improvement plans for the purpose of improving targeted instructional behaviors and student learning outcomes. Currently, my district’s school improvement plans follow a general template focused on student subgroup deficits and standardized test scores with little emphasis on professional learning aligned to educator and student outcomes. A local policy that aligns school improvement plans with a district professional learning plan would be consistent with recommendations from the Illinois P-20 Council (2017) and help the local school board understand how a district professional learning plan advances their strategic objectives. It could produce local administrative procedures and practices ahead of future state policy mandates. Most importantly, it would provide a clear and specific vision of why particular professional learning activities are chosen and a more thoughtful evaluation process. A sample professional learning plan template incorporates the essential elements as described by Killion (2013). Evaluation steps include Guskey’s (2000) levels of impact. Finally, the alignment model is inspired by Mooney and Mausbach’s (2008) blueprint for school improvement.

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