Children's School - Directors Corner

For Parents

Staff Professional Development
April 2005
Dr. Sharon Carver

Since 1997, the Children's School has received funding from the Alcoa Foundation to document and disseminate our psychology-based approach to early childhood education. Beginning in 2001, the funding was directed to the Alcoa Collaborative for Early Childhood Professional Development. Our current partners in this endeavor are Carnegie Mellon's Cyert Center, the University of Pittsburgh Child Development Center, and Shady Lane. Until this year, our individual and collaborative efforts have been focused on providing high-quality professional development opportunities for educators in the southwestern Pennsylvania region, with our own staff members participating primarily as presenters at seminars and hosts of site visits. While such activities clearly serve as growth opportunities for our staff, we sought this year to collaboratively advance professional development within each of the partner centers while providing a model of a multifaceted, sustained, joint approach that could be adapted elsewhere.

For the 2004-2005 year, the Alcoa Collaborative partners planned a joint professional development project involving the 124 educators at our four accredited early childhood centers. Dr. Carver, Miss Hancock, Mrs. Rosenblum, and Mrs. Simpson have represented the Children's School on the planning committee. We were challenged to offer options tailored to the diverse interests and goals among our staff members, to emphasize long-term interactions among center professionals, to use creative scheduling sensitive to diverse program constraints, and to document both process and impact thoroughly. The goal of supporting educators' development in these ways was to enhance the quality of programs at each of our centers. The project included four sets of professional development options for the initial year:

Partner Site Visits In the fall, each center hosted an evening Open House and a morning Walk & Talk (tour & discussion) for educators at the partner centers to become familiar with the other programs. An amazing 35% of the educators (43/124) participated on at least one of the Open House events, and 29% participated in at least one Walk & Talk. Because there was so much interest but such limited ability to provide classroom coverage while educators visited other centers, we are offering another round of Walk & Talk events this spring. In addition, educators now have the opportunity to participate in Job Shadowing, where they shadow a partner educator for either a half or full day. Mrs. Solomon and Mrs. Bird have already had job shadowing experiences at the Cyert Center, and Miss Bowers did a job shadow day in the UCDC kindergarten.
Book Clubs During the fall, 21% of the partner educators participated in at least one of the three Book Club events. Each participant received the book in advance and then joined the group at Panera for a discussion lead by one of the educators. Because of both cost and practical constraints of the restaurant, participation at each event was limited to three educators from each center. The book clubs have been so popular that the spring series is already under way. Both Miss McMichael and Ms. Williams have served as discussion leaders (for Fifty Acres and a Poodle by Laskas and The Light of Conscience by Shore, respectively).
Roundtables These events are similar to our Staff/Parent Brown Bags in that groups meet to discuss a topic with a leader presenting ideas. We had a participation rate of 25% even though there have only been two events so far, with another two planned for the spring. The first was held at the Children's School and led by parent Leeann Younger on "Maps of Reality".
National Site Visits The national site visits are beginning this month and will involve observation and reflection with a small group of diverse colleagues regarding early childhood philosophy and practice at national centers of excellence. Mrs. Simpson and Mrs. Solomon will visit the early childhood programs at Bank Street College & Borough of Manhattan Community College in NYC on the 15th, and on the 29th Mrs. Perovich, Miss Hancock, Ms. Williams and Miss Bowers will visit the Iroquois Early Childhood Center and Head Start Program, which co-exist in an exciting facility on the Cattaraugus Reservation near Buffalo, NY.

At the end of the fall semester, we surveyed the educators at all four centers. General impressions of the Alcoa Collaborative project included its tremendous professional development opportunity, the dedication of the high quality partner centers, the welcoming nature of the network of professionals, the value of sharing experiences and ideas, and the supportive colleagues involved in discussion and reflection. When asked about their personal experience with the project, participants said they valued having variety and choice, affirmed that they learned both from hosting and attending sessions, indicated that they felt more reflective and thoughtful about their practice, and reiterated that they enjoyed bonding with colleagues from different centers. They also expressed interest in knowing what educators have actually changed about their practice as a result of the events, reaching out to a wider range of centers beyond the partners, and having more of a societal impact on the early childhood profession.

With the exception of the national site visits, these joint professional development options offered high value for low cost. We witnessed diverse educators connecting to the broader professional community, gaining a deeper understanding of their own practice, and building relationships with colleagues. All of the events ³count² towards the professional development requirements of state agencies and NAEYC, but most staff members are working above and beyond the requirements. I invite you to talk with your children's teachers to learn about the ways that they have been growing as professionals this year.