FOSTER TRADITIONAL ACADEMY, KENTUCKY
                                                                                                                                                                   
SCHOOL PROFILE

Foster Traditional Academy is located in Louisville, Kentucky, and is part of Jefferson County Public Schools.  Serving 641 students, with an at-risk population of 78%, its mission is to educate all students to their fullest potential in a safe environment.  All learners will be provided the opportunity to achieve at the highest level of academic expectations while fostering positive social/emotional behaviors and attitudes. 

SCHOOL NEEDS

Foster wanted a professional development solution that would help educators create a structured learning experience that would positively impact every student.

SOLUTION

Foster has had PD 360 in their school for one year but Principal Susan Quinlan feels they have only scratched the surface of its potential.  Foster has renewed PD 360 for another year and Principal Quinlan is now planning how her school will utilize it in greater depth.
 
ABOUT PD 360

PD 360 is the leading on-demand professional learning resource for educators with over 600,000 subscribers.  Teachers, administrators, professional learning communities, coaches, etc., have access to over 1,400 indexed and searchable video segments that present real, best-practice classroom examples. Each segment includes content from respected educational experts such as Michael Fullan, Rick DuFour, Doug Reeves, Rick Stiggins, and many others.  PD 360 can be used to create a structured learning experience for an individual teacher, professional learning community, or entire school.  It bridges the gap between training and classroom implementation with job-embedded follow-up, tracking, and reflection tools.  PD 360 also gives educators access to an online community of teaching professionals that allows interaction and collaboration either within a district or across the United States and around the world.  See a demonstration at www.pd360.com

DRIVING USAGE AND IMPLEMENTATION

To introduce Foster to PD 360, Principal Quinlan took all the teachers into the school computer lab.  As each educator sat in front of a computer, she walked them through the basic steps of the online and on-demand professional development product.  Now she is ready to solidify usage in the school by:

• Customizing PD 360 with the district’s initiatives so instructors can see how to implement the focused practices. 

• Applying PD 360 in new teacher training to introduce them to PD 360, initiate important discussions, and show them how PD 360 will benefit them.

• Aiding teachers who are struggling by assigning particular segments that pertain to their specific needs and questions.

• Having teacher teams present a PD 360 segment at faculty meetings to pass on something they have learned and to start discussions.

• Making use of tracking features, to follow teachers’ professional learning activity and progress. Tracking teacher responses to reflection questions allows administrators to follow growth and application of users after each segment.

• Implementing inquiry-based instruction to better meet the needs of students.

• Sending the Strategy of the Week to all educators to give ideas and information to enhance their professional development.

“Strategy of the Week” is a free weekly resource offered by School Improvement Network that provides valuable professional development tips and information for educators.

BENEFITS

Foster has already experienced many benefits from PD 360 and is looking forward to even more, including:

• Availability
PD 360 is available to educators anytime and anywhere the internet is accessible, making it easy for them to get answers when they need them.

• Respected Experts
Well known education experts are readily on hand with candid answers to tough questions and everyday classroom circumstances. 

• Embedded Professional Development (PD)
As questions and situations arise in their own classrooms, teachers can instantly find in PD 360 the answers and support they need to improve their own teaching.

• Best Practices
Teachers can see how effective teaching actually looks with over 1,000 research based and classroom proven best practices shown in real classroom examples.

• Real Classroom Examples
Teachers can access over 1,000 real classroom examples from urban, suburban, and rural schools across North America that show what successful instruction looks like in actual school settings.

• Vast Library of Specific Content
Educators can instantly find the help they need by searching hundreds of fully-indexed video learning segments that address the most up-to-date topics. 

• Teacher Enthusiasm
Teacher response has been excellent and focused.  They have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the content and pleased with the classroom examples. 

“PD 360 has opened up many possibilities for teacher growth and has helped us as a professional community with initiating the necessary conversations regarding instructional best practices.”
Susan Quinlan
Principal
Foster Traditional Academy, KY

ABOUT SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT NETWORK
Founded in 1991 by two school teachers, School Improvement Network empowers educators with comprehensive, research-based, professional learning tools that build teacher expertise to foster greater achievement among their students. As the home of The Video Journal of Education, PD 360, and The 360 Learning Framework, School Improvement Network offers content from the largest group of educational experts, the broadest range of topics, and the most classroom examples anywhere. School Improvement Network boasts the world’s largest educator-verified, on-demand professional development network with over 600,000 users. To learn more about School Improvement Network’s dynamic resources, visit www.schoolimprovement.com.