University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Summer Academy for Teachers and Administrators

Goals

The College of Education is working to develop school-centered, sustainable, long-term professional development relationships with school districts, based on needs in specific instructional areas or focused on systemic school improvement.

A pilot project based on this concept is planned for the summer of 2005. The pilot project will involve several districts and approximately 30-35 teachers, who will be paid $1,000 stipends for participating in an initial two-week Summer Academy conducted in their home districts and on the University of Illinois campus. The professional development relationship will begin during this year’s Summer Academy and last through the 2005-2006 school year. The College of Education’s Office of Professional Development and Outreach, which will coordinate the Summer Academy, will use this opportunity to identify school districts that may be interested in partnering with the College of Education to find additional funding to support ongoing professional development.

Content Areas

For the pilot project, the College is prepared to work with districts that are interested in long-term professional development centered on at least one of the following areas: literacy, science, special education, mathematics, prekindergarten as a component of public schools, the use of data for school improvement by administrators, school policies and the No Child Left Behind Act, or technology in teaching and learning.

For example, a professional development initiative might be planned in the area of literacy in a rural district with an elementary school that seeks to improve standardized reading test scores of third and fifth graders. Based on an initial needs assessment conducted with all of the school’s K-6 teachers, teachers who provide literacy/language arts instruction in the school would be invited to take part in an ongoing professional development initiative, beginning with the 2005 Summer Academy experience and continuing through the 2005-2006 school year via email and monthly meetings.

The overall plan for professional development will be flexible, so that new content area challenges can be met as they arise. In the first year (or in future years), a school district may choose to participate in more than one content-focused professional development initiative, or in a systemic professional development initiative, on a grant-funded or cost-recovery basis.

Anticipated Impact

Research supports the idea that professional development is most effective when

• it is school-based, school-focused, and involves school-wide efforts
• teachers take active, collaborative roles in planning and carrying out the professional development activities
• training is concrete and directly applicable in the classroom
• it promotes continuous inquiry and improvement within the daily life of schools
• it provides ongoing support and assistance for a significant period of time
• it is driven by a coherent long-term plan

By planning professional development with these guiding principles in mind, the impact over time on participating schools is likely to be significant and measurable.

Evaluation  

An evaluation component will be a central part of each professional development initiative. Evaluation efforts will be ongoing, so that modifications can be made in plans during the course of the initiative, and so that the school and the professional development team can incorporate what has been learned into future professional development initiatives. Evaluation data will be made available to participating schools.