Professional Development

Central Lee CSD is committed to providing useful professional development opportunities for our teachers.  We utilize Teacher Quality (TQ) and Teacher Leadership & Compensation (TLC) programs to fund both on-campus and out-of-district professional development activities.  We send our staff to numerous out-of-district professional development events including local Area Education Association (AEA) & MISIC trainings, state and national conferences.

On-campus professional development inservices involve both full-day and 2 hour early-outs.

Full-day inservices are designed to focus on the Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRR) framework for quality instruction and the development of a positive school culture.  Full-day inservices typically incorporate district level professional development in the mornings and building level professional development in the afternoons.

Early-out inservices are divided into three categories of meetings: 1) vertical / content k-12,  2) grade or content professional learning communities (PLC’s), and 3) personalized professional development.

Vertical / content k-12 early-out inservices focus on curriculum and better understanding the Iowa Common Core standards.  Teachers are assigned to one of six content groups: math, science, English language art (ELA), social studies, career technology education (CTE), or technical studies.

PLC teams at the elementary and middle school meet with grade level colleagues.  High school PLC teams are grouped according to content similarities.  Our PLC teams focus on student achievement.  The PLC’s address the four essential questions:

             1) What do we expect our students to learn?

             2) How will we know they are learning it?

             3) How will we respond when they do not learn it?

             4) How will we respond if the already know it? 

Personalized professional development days are designed to have our teachers focus on their own professional growth plans.  Teachers pick areas that they wish to focus on and grow as a professional.  Based on their professional interests and individual needs, the district provides training and supports to help our teachers reach their professional goals.