Wednesday, September 12, 2001

Staff development trains variety of school personnel

The staff development department of the Fayette County School System provides and supports many professional development activities for all employees. The majority of the funding for staff training is provided through a grant from the Georgia Department of Education.

Each year an advisory board consisting of system administrators, school-level administrators, teachers and classified employees determine the goals for our system-level staff development for the following year. These goals determine the budget for all training efforts in the school system. The goals usually remain consistent for several years, which allows for the training to be ongoing and reflective. For the past three years the goals of the school system have been:

l To improve classroom instruction by integrating technology into the curriculum.

l To improve operations of school programs by applying technology to curricular and administrative functions.

l To improve instruction through the application of how children learn research and multiple intelligence research.

l To improve instruction by training staff for specialized programmatic needs.

The delivery of the staff development programs come in many forms. The two most common are the school-based classes and workshops or district-level initiatives and certification requirements.

Each school is provided with a staff development budget. The allocation of money per school is based on the number of certified people who are assigned to that building. This money is used to support training identified by the school's leadership team under the direction of the building-level principal. The focus of school-level staff development often reflects system-level goals and improved student achievement.

District-level staff development focuses on training that meets the needs of a broader group of employees. Our first goal is to provide opportunities for teachers in the area of teacher certification. Secondly, the curriculum coordinators in the areas of language arts, math, reading, science, social studies, fine arts, health, physical education, foreign language and special education determine training needs for each of the subject areas and offers training to meet these needs. Textbook adoption years often drive much of the funding for training. Whenever a new program, textbook or initiative is adopted, then the training component is not far behind.

Technology training has become a strong focus in Georgia and Fayette County has met the challenge of providing hands-on, job-related training for many employees in the area of technology. InTech, a course designed by the Ga. Department of Education, has become our training model for teachers to learn how to effectively integrate technology in a one-computer classroom.

Although some of our teachers have traveled to locations around the state to receive the 50 hours of training required for InTech, many have had the opportunity to be trained in the system training lab or in their own buildings.

House Bill 1187 indicates that all teachers must be trained in InTech or an approved course by July of 2006 and Fayette County is well on its way of providing this training to all teachers. We will open a satellite training center under the direction of the State University of West Georgia Educational Technology Training Center in October of 2001 and the school system will have a full-time instructional technology trainer to assist with the demand. In addition to InTech training, the county offers introductory technology classes in programs such as Word, Power Point, Excel and Access.

Classified employees have also received job-related technology training. A secretarial academy is sponsored in the fall of the year to provide both county- and school-level secretaries and clerks with updated training based on a needs assessment conducted through the staff development department each year.

Paraprofessionals are required to take 50 hours of job related training during the first year of employment in order to receive a license from the state of Georgia. This training is provided through the school system, and they also receive introductory-level technology training as well as other job-related classes. In addition to regularly scheduled safety meetings, the bus drivers are offered additional training through the staff development department. This year they will receive ongoing training on a discipline program being implemented for all bus drivers in the system.

Leadership personnel have several opportunities to participate in staff development at the school and county level. There is an administrative intern program during which teachers who desire to be building-level administrators get on-the-job training by being placed in a school and assigned a mentor who is a principal in our school district.

They also participate in a rigorous program, sponsored through the Griffin Regional Educational Service Agency, which helps them identify strengths and weaknesses in the area of administration. The system then provides support to the interns who wish to participate in training to improve identified weaknesses.

Technology training is also popular among administrators. InTech, Word, e-mail, Excel and Power Point are among the favorites as indicated through participation. Attendance at conferences and workshops outside of Fayette County are often an option that our system- and building-level administrators use to keep current on trends and research in education.

The staff development department organizes and keeps record of all training completed through Fayette County. Each November employees who participate in training in Fayette County receive a transcript indicating the courses completed and the number of units acquired. Although a great deal of training is held in the summer, there continues to be a growing need for training throughout the school year.

New Teacher Induction and the mentoring program are also functions of the staff development department. Although new teachers to Fayette County are provided with training for five days in the summer, this support continues throughout the school year. First-year teachers are assigned trained mentors at their buildings who provide support throughout the year. There is also a county-level mentor assigned to all first-year teachers to assist with training needs. These mentors provide support, training and feedback for the first three years that a teacher teaches in Fayette County. Experienced teachers who are hired in Fayette County are assigned a "buddy" to help them acclimate to the curriculum and the way the system operates.

National Board Certification is supported through the staff development department. The system hires teachers who have successfully completed national certification to help teachers who are presently going through the process. This is a yearlong process which includes completing many tasks, documentation and a written exam. The staff development department provides support for the teachers involved in the process.

Staff development is an integral part of the Fayette County school system. Outside consultants are sometimes hired to help with specialized training needs; however, many of our own teachers develop and deliver training needed to enhance our instructional programs.

Input from teachers, instructional leaders and other employees help identify training needs and the training is organized and delivered through the staff development department. The only way to effectively make change in any aspect of the school system is through the implementation and follow-up of effective training programs designed to address the change.

[Terri Gaspierik heads the staff development department in the Fayette County school system.]

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