Standard 5.

3: Program Evaluation
The artifact that I chose for standard 5.3 was the Professional Learning
Current Reality and GAPPS Review that was completed during ITEC 7460. In
this report, I interviewed administrators and our instructional coach about
their beliefs regarding professional learning in our schools and improvements
that we can make. I focused on my schools big 5 and their relationship to
instructional technology. Our current big five are the STEM initiative,
differentiation, data teaming professional learning communities (PLC),
Advanced Placement (AP) expansion and English as a Second or Other
Language (ESOL). Each of these are based on data from either the previous
school improvement plan results, teacher evaluations, teacher surveys,
CCRPI or federal/ state mandates. I also focused on a needs assessment,
the schools professional learning, the technology that was offered within a
the past year, the funding and incentives offered by the school as well as the
diversity, collaboration and evaluations done within our building.
The standard states that candidates design and implement program
evaluations to determine the overall effectiveness of professional
learning or deepening teacher content knowledge, improving teacher
pedagogical skills and/or increasing student learning. By performing the
GAPPS review, I was able to see what our school does well and what they
need to work on. In conjunction with the STEM initiative and all the new
technology in the new school addition, many of the PLC meetings have been
used as coaching sessions for our new projectors, iPads, laptops, and even
learning how to use Windows 8. It seems that a continuation of designing
and implementing these types of professional learning opportunities
is key to garner teacher support and implementation. The review determined
that these professional learning opportunities helped teachers deepen their
content knowledge since most of the trainings were conducted in groups
of teachers of mixed experience levels and improved their pedagogical
skills by providing new teaching tools for them to deliver instruction to
increase student learning.
From this artifact I was able to learn a lot about what our school does to
encourage the use of technology in our building to support our big 5. One of
the struggles that many teachers are having is that all of these technologies
are coming simultaneously and it is hard to keep up with all the new
information. Peer coaching in our smaller PLC meetings has proven very
valuable to all of the teachers. Learning community members are
accountable to one another to achieve the shared goals of the school and
school system and work in transparent, authentic settings that support their

improvement (Learning forward, 2011). Sometimes this can be as simple as

helping each other figure out how to get the new printer to copy on both
sides of the paper. One recommendation to the administration is to send out
frequent surveys to ask for feedback on the initiatives to help determine
their overall effectiveness.
By picking apart all of the collaborative, technology and evaluation methods
set by our school, I was able to realize that all of these are in place in order
to work towards school improvement. By knowing where a system is weak,
those involved can focus their time and efforts accordingly. Also, by knowing
what is currently working to help our students achieve success, we can
elaborate on them and continue to improve them in the direction of school
success. All of these efforts are measured by the continuous open lines of
communication and feedback we provide to administration through our data
teams and our departments.