Consistent (and increasing) focus on staff professional development is key to improved student performance in the classroom.
While the tide seems definitely to be turning as the U.S. economy has been making steady progress over the past several years, many schools and school districts across the country are still struggling with budgets—sometimes even more so than during the Great Recession.
In fact, many state budgets for public education are providing less per-pupil funding for K through 12 than they did six or seven years ago—often far less. And despite some improvement in overall state revenues, schools in nearly a third of the states entered the latest school year with less funding than a year ago.
A significant portion of that state funding goes toward teacher training and professional development for faculty and staff. So that, too, has seen big cuts.
In North Carolina a couple of years ago, as a result of new restraints mandated by budget shortfalls, local school officials were forced to cut or shut down early-childhood programs, lay off teachers and nearly eliminate training and professional development altogether.
In Michigan, a budget surplus in the School Aid fund at the beginning of this year led some lawmakers in Lansing to advocate re-allocating some of those funds to the state’s general fund.
Fortunately, the picture is quite different for many private or independent schools. And for Notre Dame, the portion of a rather strong overall budget going toward professional development for its faculty and staff has been getting even stronger.
According to Rick Winiarski, who works in Notre Dame’s business office and coordinates the school’s professional development funding, the budget for PD since 2011 has averaged a year-over-year increase of about 13%. He said the school’s overall budget for professional development also includes a significant percentage coming from the federal Title IIA allocation.
Winiarski, who has a background in commercial banking and corporate finance, has been handling PD and Title II reimbursements for Notre Dame since 2010. He spends an overwhelming amount of his time on campus ascertaining PD needs at Notre Dame and then applying for Title IIA grants. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1965, included non-profit, private and religiously-affiliated schools as eligible for federal funds as long as they received approval from the state.
For the 2014-15 school year, Winiarski said Notre Dame spent a total of $365,591 on professional development with roughly half coming from federal Title IIA finding. He said that since 2010, the school has spent more than $1.4 million on PD. The federal government, on the other hand, spends about $2.5 billion per year on professional development across the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Education.
An expectation, not an option
Winiarski isn’t the only one on staff focused on PD. Notre Dame’s divisional administrators have always been tasked with encouraging and promoting professional development for teachers and staff under their tutelage.
But it’s usually not a hard sell for NDPMA teachers.
“At Notre Dame, most faculty and staff look on their own to build their knowledge and improve skills in their fields,” said Fr. Joe Hindelang, s.m., principal of the upper division. “However, the administration, department chairs and IB coordinators also keep an eye out for workshops and conferences that might be of interest to staff.”
Hindelang said that whether people are working on an additional degree or re-certification, or improving their general skill-set, professional development is an important expectation for all at NDPMA. “The school budget includes substantial funds for PD and we’re always willing to provide substitute teachers when needed so that everyone can participate each year. Some teachers even look for opportunities during school breaks so they don’t have to miss class time.”
There is a real and tangible commitment to professional development among the school’s faculty and staff, according to Hindelang.
Increasing student success
When Diana Atkins, principal of Notre Dame’s lower division, looks to allocate her portion of NDPMA’s budgeted PD funding, she investigates programs that will directly affect student learning or improve the division’s curriculum.
“As an example, most recently, all of the core classroom LD teachers and myself attended the Daily 5 Conference, which focuses on delivering reading and language curriculum in a student-centered manner,” she said. “This classroom method allows students to work independently to achieve personal goals, which frees the teacher to work with small groups or individuals. By providing PD on programs like this, it directly translates into student achievement in the classroom.”
School head Fr. Leon Olszamowsksi, s.m., also is adamant about the importance of professional development. When the school’s most recent strategic plan was being formulated a few years ago, he insisted on ratcheting up the percentage of the school’s overall budget devoted to professional development from 1.5% to 2%, a goal he says has already been met, even though it’s only the third year of a six-year strategic plan.
“The results of this investment have been impressive in both student and staff education output,” Olszamowski said. “It is difficult to have teachers out of class for extended periods of time, but it’s a small cost to pay for better teachers and auxiliary staff members. Incidentally, one of our best professional development modules, as stated by our teachers and staff, is when they go out to become part of accreditation teams sponsored by ISACS. Actually, ISACS specifically asks for our teachers every year.”
Olszamowski also noted that a recent ISM Strategic “marker of school success” review of NDPMA showed that the teachers at Notre Dame are “a happier bunch as a whole than in the last analysis we did three years ago.”
He added that given the fact that Notre Dame runs the prestigious International Baccalaureate programs and the high-powered Advanced Placement courses, it is critical for the sake of the students that the teaching and support staff be very well prepared.
“ISM, Inc., our consulting firm, recommends that 2% of the school’s total budget is poured into staff development,” Olszamowski said. “I believe we actually exceed this standard from ISM. I have personally seen the academic bar raised for our teachers and have seen them respond well to that raised bar.”
‘For the kids’
For Jill Mistretta, the school’s middle-division principal, professional development not only helps the overall organization maintain its accreditations, it provides a consistent way for teachers to keep up-to-date on the latest and greatest in primary and secondary education pedagogy, which definitely “benefits every child that passes through Notre Dame’s doors.”
Mistretta said she meets regularly with her IB coordinators and campus ministry officials to map out each school year. “And the middle division faculty meets roughly two times a month after school to discuss professional development opportunities,” she said.
Mistretta also sends a number of faculty members to conferences hosted by ISTE, MACUL and ISACS each year. “When those conferences are local, we’ve even closed school and sent the entire staff to the conference,” she said.
Like the school’s upper and lower divisions, International Baccalaureate training is an ongoing area of professional development for the middle division. “There are three categories of training per several subject areas or departments within the IB framework,” Mistretta said, “so there is potential for teachers to be trained at three levels in more than one area of study.”
Toss in other new projects, she said, such as the one-to-one tablet program and the relatively recent implementation of Haiku, and Mistretta and her staff have quite a lot to tackle in any given year, she said.
“But it is definitely worth it,” she said, “because ultimately we do all this for the kids!”
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.