Directions for Completing the Professional Development Schools Site Description
Please complete the following document at a PDS site Coordinating Council Meeting or within your sites school improvement meeting.
1. Complete Sections I and II of the Description one time only.
2. Sections III, IV and V will need to be updated and submitted electronically annually.
3. You are encouraged to print a hard copy of the PDS Description for your PDS site binder before electronically submitting the Description to SU.
4. Please note that all items in italics are only suggestions. Feel free to keep the italicized options, delete them or add to them as necessary when describing your PDS site.
5. Please be VERY DESCRIPTIVE and provide names, topics, dates, etc. to paint the most accurate picture possible of your site and its accomplishments.
6. Have questions or need assistance?
Contact: Stacie Siers at or (410) 677-5042
Professional Development Schools Site Description
I. Introduction:
Collaboration is the key underpinning of the Regional Professional
Development School Partnerships. Formed in / Spring 2003between Salisbury University and / Denton Elementary School.
the partnership has been formed to provide a learning community that allows for the continuing professional development of practicing classroom teachers and SalisburyUniversity faculty, working together to improve practice and enhance student achievement.
In addition to the educational institutions involved, partners include Maritime Museum, Department of Agriculture, Women’s Club, Lions Club, Parent Teacher Association (families and communities, arts and science faculties, unions, museums, and other nonprofit organizations).
II. Description of Partners:
Mission, Background and History
A. Mission:
The mission of the Regional Professional Development School (RPDS) is to provide preparation of excellent prospective teachers enrolled in elementary, early childhood, secondary, masters of art and teaching, physical education, music and TESOL programs at Salisbury University. It is the mission of this organization to provide a learning community that allows for the continuing professional development of practicing classroom teachers and SalisburyUniversity faculty, working together to improve practice and enhance student achievement. To accomplish the mission of the RPDS, a PreK-16 partnership exists among the participating county public schools and Salisbury University. The partners are Anne Arundel County, Caroline County, Dorchester County, Seaford School District, Somerset County, Talbot County, Wicomico County, Worcester County and Salisbury University.
B. History:
Dr. James Orr, the Assistant Superintendent for Instruction in Caroline County, contacted Salisbury University (SU) a few years ago about the possibility of Caroline County becoming a PDS partner with SU. A subsequent meeting between Doug Gibson, the University PDS Coordinator at the time, and Harold Schriver, Director of Field Experiences, with Dr. Orr, resulted in Denton Elementary (DES) being designated as the Caroline PDS. Denton Elementary School has had one to three interns during each of the previous four semesters. Those interns have been generally from the Caroline County area and they usually wish to return to their home county to begin their professional careers. The struggle to maintain a consistent cohort of interns at Denton Elementary hindered the PDS progress of the site. In May of 2006 Stacie Siers, the present University PDS Coordinator and Harold Schriver met with Dr. Orr and Dr. Cindy Spicer to discuss the future of PDS in Caroline County. As a result of that meeting SU and Caroline County decided to re-new the partnership and agreed that both institutions needed to supply more resources to the partnership in order for it to be successful. SU assigned a liaison to be present at Denton Elementary and assist with its PDS needs and Denton Elementary reciprocated by assigning a site coordinator to DES and sending representation to the Regional Professional Development Schools council meetings at SU. The present Coordinator of Field Experiences, Paul Gasior, is working to provide DES with a consistent cohort of interns beginning in the Spring of 2007. With goals in place and a concentrated effort to making this partnership work, DES and SU are on the road to building a strong PDS relationship. Site Coordinators (Debbie White and Sara Parker) have been assigned and communication continues to improve between DES and SU. A meeting was held in June 2008 with Harold Schriver, Robin Daubach, Cindy Spicer, Paul Gasior, Stacie Siers, Debbie White, and Sara Parker to discuss the new partnership between SU students going to Chesapeake and interning in Talbot County only. Paul and Stacie will push methods students our way to allow students to see Caroline County Schools. There was also talk about having the over flow of interns to Talbot coming to Caroline.
Updated for 2008-2009 school year.
August 2008 – Sara Parker accepted a position at another school as Math Specialist. Debbie White continued as Site-Coordinator. Amanda Hriczko, a former SU Intern at DES and current staff member at DES received her National Board Certification. Amanda continues to serve as a mentor for SU interns. We appreciate the response concerning our June 08 meeting regarding the number of interns. Although we still have a low number of interns, we have had more candidates which we have enjoyed having. Amy Amalifitano, an 08 fall semester intern, was hired to work here at DES for 2009-2010 school year. This will raise our numbers to six SU Interns here at DES as staff members. We have increased the gathering of artifacts from our Interns as they work with our students.
Updated for 2009 -2010 school year.
Patsy McClellan agreed to be a co-site coordinator. Now there will be representation from the lower and upper grades. We had two Interns. Our Fall Intern, Sunny Porter, was hired right after her Internship. We also had a number of Candidates. In January 2010, John Perry, Cindy Spicer, and Debbie White met to discuss the number of Interns in Caroline County. The county has hired most of the Interns we have had in the past and were disheartened by the Talbot County partnership. In February we were informed that Interns attending Chesapeake will now have a choice of counties.
Updated for 2010-2011 school year.
The players for PDS remained the same for this school year. We enjoyed 6 Interns this school year. (2 in the Fall, 4 in the Spring) We welcomed Diane Grant, a supervisor for Interns, into our building this year. It is exciting to see most of the staff, even those who haven’t taken Interns, interested in the program. They receive some of the benefits of having Interns within their grade with new ideas and experiences. Several staff members will give wish list items to the Site Coordinator for Legacy Project ideas as well. It has been a productive year.
III. Partnership Development:
A. Governance Structure of Coordinating Council:
2006 - 07 Council
Name / PositionRobin Daubach / Principal
Debbie White / Site Coordinator, Mentor
Harold Schriver / SU Liaison
Sara Parker / Site Coordinator, Mentor
Amy Evans / Mentor
2007 – 08 Council
Name / PositionRobin Daubach / Principal
Debbie White / Site Coordinator,Mentor
Harold Schriver / SU Liaison
Cindy Spicer / Director of Elem.
Sara Parker / Site Coordinator, Mentor
2008 – 2009 Council
Name / PositionRobin Daubach / Principal
Debbie White / Site Coordinator,Mentor
Harold Schriver / SU Liaison
Cindy Spicer / Director of Elem.
2009 – 2010 Council
Name / PositionRobin Daubach / Principal
Debbie White / Site Coordinator, Mentor
Harold Schriver / SU Liaison
Cindy Spicer / Director of Elem.
Patsy McClellan / Site Coordinator, Mentor
2010 – 2011 Council
Name / PositionRobin Daubach / Principal
Debbie White / Site Coordinator, Mentor
Harold Schriver / SU Liaison
Cindy Spicer / Director of Elem.
Patsy McClellan / Site Coordinator, Mentor
Name / Position
Principal
Debbie White / Site Coordinator, Mentor
Harold Schriver / SU Liaison
Cindy Spicer / Director of Elem.
Patsy McClellan / Site Coordinator, Mentor
2011 – 2012 Council
B. Roles of the Coordinating Council: Feel free to add or delete roles under each person’s title to fit the needs of your site. You may add new titles or delete titles that are NOT part of your Coordinating Council.
SU Liaison: the point person for the IHE in the PDS partnership. Working collaboratively with the site coordinator, the liaison provides leadership to the PDS.
Roles:
ü maintains a visible presence in the PDS site
ü when appropriate assists with professional development activities and action research
ü with site coordinator assistance, plans, conducts and records Coordinating Council meetings at least once per semester
ü provides input and assistance in planning and implementing site goals
ü primary communicator between the PDS site, the central office, and the University
Site Coordinator(s): serves as the empowered representative of the school in the PDS partnership. Working collaboratively with the SU liaison, the site coordinator provides leadership to the PDS.
Roles:
ü with SU liaison assistance, plans, conducts and records Coordinating Council meetings at least once per semester
ü provides input and assistance in planning and implementing site goals
ü assist in arranging placements and other matters of PDS collaboration
ü completes annual reports
Mentor Teacher(s): selected teacher(s) within the PDS site having three years of successful teaching experience and/or tenure, recognized professionalism a d proficiency in instruction and classroom management, the strong desire to mentor SU interns, and willingness to participate in mentor training and provide a classroom laboratory for inquiry.
Roles:
ü provides input and assistance in planning and implementing site goals
ü assist in arranging placements and other matters of PDS collaboration
Principal/Administrator: plays an integral role in influencing the success or lack of success of the PDS and must be committed to the identity of the school as a PDS. The principal’s enthusiasm, knowledge, and coaching establish and maintain the tone of the partnership.
Roles:
ü provides input and assistance in planning and implementing site goals
ü assist in arranging placements and other matters of PDS collaboration
C. PDS Site Involvement: Be descriptive providing names, presentation or workshop titles, course titles, # of participants from PDS site, # of interns from PDS site, the date, etc.
Add your continued PDS Site involvement below.
2006-2007 Site Involvement
ü RPDS Coordinator Stacie Siers and SU Director of Field Experiences Harold Schriver met with Dr. James Orr, CC Assistant Superintendent and Dr. Cindy Spicer, CC Director of Instruction to discuss the “renewal” of Denton Elementary as a PDS partner. All present were in favor of renewing the partnership and re-committing resources into the effort. (May 06)
ü Dr. Orr and Principal Robin Daubach met to outline a plan for implementing PDS at Denton Elementary School. (August 06)
ü Caroline County offers a Continuing Professional Development course: Explicit Instruction. Interns are invited to attend this course with their mentors in order to prepare them to teach in Caroline County schools.
ü All interns attended professional development workshops with their mentor teacher throughout the year.
2007 -2008 Site Involvement
ü Nine teachers and one intern attended the mentor training held at Denton Elementary School.
ü June 2008 Meeting with all stakeholders for Caroline PDS to discuss Talbot County Partnership.
ü Participated in the grant opportunity from Salisbury University.
ü Debbie White and Sara Parker presented the grant results at the RPDS Conference.
ü A meet and greet to welcome our new interns was held in Fall 2007 and Winter 2008. Each intern was provided a welcome bag. Stacie Siers attended our fall meet and greet.
2008 – 2009 Site Involvement
ü A meet and greet was held in Fall 08.
ü Mentor, Amanda Hriczko completed National Board Certification
ü Interns participated in PTA program, Dr. Seuss after school.
ü Updated our PDS bulletin board each semester. (this included pictures and biographies of interns and candidates)
ü Created a list of technology resources available at DES.
2009 – 2010 PDS Involvement
ü Patsy McClellan agreed to be co-site coordinator. She teaches 4th grade.
ü Amy Amalifitano was also hired. She too was part of the Chesapeake Cohort.
ü Laura Anderson, an SU graduate was hired at Denton Elem. She was part of the Chesapeake cohort and had done some of her methods requirements at DES.
ü We now have representation from the lower and upper grades when we attend meetings.
ü John Perry, Cindy Spicer, and Debbie White met at Denton Elementary for an update on the PDS program. They expressed concern over the Chesapeake/Talbot partnership, as they have hired most of the Interns that have Interned in our county. (January 2010)
ü We had one Intern in the Fall, Sunny Porter, who has been hired to assist with reading in the Elementary schools for the remainder of this school year with a contract to teach for the 2010-2011 school year.
ü We also had one Intern for the Spring.
ü Our Action Plan was completed in the area of Reading.
ü Books came from SU through a grant written by a student at SU.
ü Intern, Teisha Combs, shared her legacy project at a faculty meeting. She presented the school with a banner of the Denton Pledge and mascot.
ü Sunny Porter, Intern at DES was hired for a reading position in February
2010 – 2011Site Involvement
ü Action plan was completed in 4th grade reading. (Mrs. McClellan’s room.)
ü Several legacy projects were completed that will benefit the whole school. (Interactive Map of DES, an book of Denton’s ABC’s was completed, games/activities were painted on the playground blacktop)
ü 2009-2010 Intern, Sunny Porter was hired at DES in 5th grade.
ü Fall 2010 Intern Paul Richardson accepted a long term sub. Position for his mentor this Spring.
ü Spring Intern, Lindsay Bell, accepted a short term sub. Position.
ü Three more teachers were trained to be mentors.
ü Spent $25.00 from SU on gift bags to give our Spring Interns when they arrived
D. Long –Term Goals: Add school specific goals that tap into your ILT, SIT or AFG Plan. Include a plan of action for how you will achieve your goal(s) with names of persons responsible for each action. (1 to 2 year plan)
2006 – 07 Long – Term Goals:
Try to add one new Long – Term goal that taps into your school improvement plan, or just focus on the details for the one you already have listed.