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R 4411 Professional Development Program

The District supports professional development of its certified staff through the maintenance of Building Leadership Teams which will serve as the  professional development committee as well as assistance programs for new teachers and resource programs for experienced teachers.

Professional Development Committee

The purpose of the committee is to identify instructional concerns and remedies; assist beginning teachers with the implementation of their professional development plan; serve as consultants at a personal teacher's request; arrange training programs for mentors; assess faculty needs; develop in-service opportunities for school staff; and provide District administration with suggestions, ideas and recommendations concerning instruction.

Committee Composition

Eligibility to serve on the committee will be restricted to Building Leadership Team members to insure that building goals are aligned with professional development objectives.  Administrators will serve on the committee, but will not vote regarding expenditures of funds.

New Teacher Assistance Program

Each new teacher employed by the District will be assigned a mentor by the building principal. Mentors will be required to possess teaching experience and have received or be willing to complete mentor training. Mentors will work closely with their assigned new teachers during the teachers' first two (2) years.

New teachers, with the assistance of their mentors, will prepare professional development plans. The plans will be consistent with the evaluation criteria and will establish plans of development for the teachers' first two (2) years of teaching.

Local Business Externships for Professional Development

Local business externship means an experience in which a teacher supervised by the District gains practical experience in a business, located within the District, through observations and interactions with employers and employees who are working on issues related to subjects taught by the teacher.  Any hours spent in a local business externship will count as contact hours for professional development. 

Local Business Externships for Credit

Teacher externships are practical experiences in which a teacher, supervised by the District, gains experience at a business located in Missouri through observation and interaction with employers and employees.  Requirements for teacher externships to be considered the equivalent to graduate level credit hours for salary schedule purposes will be developed by the Department of Economic Development and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education by July 1, 2020.  Teachers who satisfied their state graduate credit equivalences will receive appropriate credit on the District’s salary schedule.  Unless reauthorized by the General Assembly, the teacher externship program will expire on September 2024.

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Last Updated: November 2019