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Goal #2 - Return to Meaningful Professional Development

Faculty and staff need quality professional development opportunities in order to maintain their skills and stay current on the latest information and techniques within their fields.

DoDEA used to understand this. Until recently, DoDEA did an excellent job providing professional development opportunities that were geared to a staff member's specific curricular area or profession (such as counseling).

An example:
DoDEA has adopted a one-size-fits-all approach to professional development. Lumping all such development opportunities under the banner of UDDI (Using Data to Differentiate Instruction), DoDEA now emphasizes generalized teaching philosophies instead of providing faculty and staff with useful training in the curricular areas in which they teach.

In order to Maximize the Learning, DoDEA must do the following:
  1. Have professional experts that are fully familiar with new curricula train teachers directly

  2. Bring teachers together in like-curricular areas to be trained and collaborate

  3. Restore the sabbatical program and Educator Day programs worldwide

  4. Provide funding for educators to attend professional conferences

  5. Discontinued top-down professional development initiatives, such as UDDI

Other Goals of the Maximize the Learning campaign

Goal #1: DoDEA Headquarters must prioritize the work it wants educators to accomplish rather than constantly pile on more new programs, trainings and initiatives.

Goal #3: DoDEA must stop trying to make all decisions at the Headquarters level and promote more and better local decision making at all levels.

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