Form A

ARTICLE 312 (18) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENT FUND

NARRATIVE

School Based Plan for 2006-2007

Complete for each professional development activity/series

Name of School:  Potter-Burns Elementary School

District:  Pawtucket School Department

Professional Development Team Members: 

John Haidemenos, Jr., Principal

Danielle Langlois, Grade 6 Teacher, CO-Chair

Ellen Ercolano, Reading Specialist, CO-Chair

Brenda Barter, Parent

Terri Dorval, Parent

Description of Activity/Series:  Student Behavior and Home/School Connection.  Development of a school wide positive discipline program

Staff Served (# and type):  (23) Classroom Teachers, (5) Special Educators, (9) Support Staff

Administrators served (# and type): (1) Building Principal

Teacher Assistants served:  (4)

Activity/series Duration (# of hours) Staff development in the Second Step Program and the effective use of the school planners.

Please include your School Improvement Plan with this application and refer explicitly to the plan when answering the following three questions:

What data were used to determine the need for this activity/series?

What School Improvement Plan goal(s) does this activity/series align with and how does the activity/series support the goal? All school community members will utilize opportunities to inform, communicate, and share knowledge with each other.

How will the impact of this activity/series be monitored, analyzed and evaluated?  (Cite School Improvement Plan if applicable)

Our principal, social worker, and school psychologist will continue to monitor student referrals and behaviors to observe the impact of the Second Step Program.  The program is specifically designed to provide students with strategies to deal with stressful situations regarding interactions with their peers.

We are also using school planners to cultivate an effective home/school connection through consistent communication.

Does the activity/series take the teacher out of the classroom during instruction time (requires a substitute to cover the classroom?)

The most effective professional development is embedded within the school. Because the emphasis is on providing staff development to all the providers, we use our mandatory staff meetings as a venue for this purpose.  However, because we are allowed only four one hour meetings per school year, there are times when substitutes must be secured to ensure that clearly articulated staff development is provided to everyone necessary.

If the proposed professional development activity/series id NOT embedded and/or encroaches upon student instruction time please detail what other options were explored and why the activity/series MUST encroach upon the student instruction time.   Please see above response.

If the professional development activity/series includes high school teachers indicate how many hours of this activity/series would address the 15 hours of professional development in the areas of Literacy, Graduation by Proficiency, or Personalization, as mandated by the Regents’ High School Regulations.