DISTRICT NEEDS

With an already strong program, Polk County Public Schools Professional Development Center had been using traditional methods of professional development (PD) but was looking for a solution that could further the department mission to “provide quality-professional learning opportunities for all employees to enhance student learning.” Its plan was to find a high-quality product that would be easy to use yet still meet the individual professional growth needs of every teacher and administrator. In a district this large, that could be a daunting task.

SOLUTION

When Polk County purchased PD 360, the School Improvement Network’s online and on-demand professional learning solution, it knew it had discovered what it was looking for: an individualized, job-embedded, and superior product with plenty of content.

ABOUT PD 360

PD 360 is the leading on-demand professional learning resource for educators with over 500,000 subscribers. Teachers, administrators, professional learning communities, coaches, etc., have access to over 1,000 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 world. See a demonstration at www.pd360.com.

DRIVING USAGE AND IMPLEMENTATION

No matter how good the solution, if teachers, staff, and administrators don’t use it, then the desired outcomes will not occur.  Polk County knew from the beginning that they needed a deliberately-planned implementation of PD 360 to drive maximum usage and maximum benefit. Polk County was definitely ready to begin its plan to drive usage and implementation of PD 360. As part of that plan, Polk County focused on the following: 

• The district introduced PD 360 by giving free access to some of its principals and administrators for a 3-month trial then presenting it to all principals at a Professional Learning Communities conference. At a later date, it was shown to the PD staff. All were trained and able to coach and support the teachers.
• The Professional Development staff has kept PD 360 in front of teachers consistently.
• The quarterly PD newsletter to all staff carries informative articles about PD 360.
• An exciting incentive contest was announced in the newsletter. Because PD 360 tracks usage, the purpose of the contest is to recognize the school and teacher with the most monthly use. The winning school is awarded a monetary gift to use for their school. The winning teacher is awarded a gift for use in the classroom.
• Polk County has an individual professional growth plan for teachers called Teachers' Action Research Goals and Educational Timeline (TARGET). By using PD 360, teachers earn in-service points that go into their files and are used for certification and advancement.   
• Polk County is using PD 360 in their Professional Learning Communities and Early Learning Coalition training.

“I think the one thing that has been helpful for us is that we did a PD 360 overview with each staff member to show them the basic ways to maneuver through the site, how simple it was to use, and everything it provided in terms of their individual needs.  We also set some realistic expectations about what we wanted to focus on as a school and set some due dates and guidelines on what needed to be accomplished.”
Christopher L. Roberts
Principal
Highland City Elementary
Polk County Public Schools, FL

BENEFITS

Based on Polk County’s well-planned rollout of PD 360, the following benefits have been realized:

• Usage of PD 360 in Polk County continues to go up, improving weekly. In less than seven months, the district’s viewed monthly minutes went from 3,000 to 42,433. 
• Teacher response has been extremely enthusiastic.
• Teachers feel that PD 360 is a superior product, user-friendly, flexible, and accessible anytime.  
• Long-time teachers find that it reminds them of concepts they have been previously taught, and reinforces and broadens what they already know.
• Teachers enjoy communicating with other educators in the interactive learning communities.
• Teachers like seeing real, best-practice examples in actual classrooms. 

“The teachers have enjoyed being able to go on and find examples for their needs and their students’ needs and then implement these strategies immediately. The fact that they do not have to constantly meet and take away from their precious time has also been a motivator.”
Christopher L. Roberts
Principal
Highland City Elementary
Polk County Public Schools, FL

“I found that watching video of actual teachers completing the thinking maps with their students and showing different examples of how they can be brought into all subject areas was a more effective way of learning for me than just reading a book or manual on this strategy. I find it useful that I can stop, rewind, or even go back, to previous material I have viewed.  I am a note taker and I find it very helpful to be able to take notes and pause sections of the video as I feel needed.” 
Stacy Teston
Third Grade Teacher
Highland City Elementary School
Polk County Public Schools, FL

“Teaching on a block schedule where I see my students for 90 minutes every other day poses a challenge in planning activities that high school students enjoy as well as keep their focus. I was encouraged to see teachers modeling many of these strategies on PD 360, and it prompted me to try out several of them I had learned about but not attempted before. I was inspired to test some the very week I had seen the videos. Students learn differently today than when I first began my career, and PD 360 has shown me how to expand and improve my craft.”
Robin Pack
English Teacher
Lake Gibson Senior HS
Polk County Public Schools, FL

“I like being able to join groups and communicate with other educators. I have found some great links that these teachers shared. The PD 360 is very easy to use and I have been able to implement some of the practices in my classroom. I also find the ones on technology very helpful because that is where I want to grow.”
Lee Strain
Fourth Grade Teacher
Highland City Elementary School
Polk County Public Schools, FL

“One of my favorite features on the PD 360 is that I do not have to complete whole assignments in one sitting. With such a busy schedule at school and home I have the freedom to take my time and organize my sessions on PD 360 in a more effective way to suit my life.” 
Stacy Teston
Third Grade Teacher
Highland City Elementary School
Polk County Public Schools, FL

“PD 360 is a strong resource for educators. It reminded me to continue to utilize best teaching practices. Just being able to converse with other colleagues and sharing ideas was a win-win situation too.”
Jessie Peterson
Intensive Reading Teacher
Lake Gibson Middle School
Polk County Public Schools, FL
 
Half-way through the first year of implementation, Polk has successfully rolled out PD 360. The teachers are responding positively, the rewards are pouring in, and the students are the winners.

“PD 360 has proven to be a great return on our investment!” 
Kerryn Bowden
Sr. PD Coordinator
Polk County Public Schools, FL

ABOUT SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

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 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 500,000 users.  To learn more about School Improvement Network’s dynamic resources, visit www.schoolimprovement.com.