The purpose of the professional learning system is to enable the school community to meet state and district student achievement standards and goals and to succeed in school improvement.

I. All instructional personnel and administrative and supervisory personnel have individual responsibility to grow professionally. The school system will carry out a long-range program for staff development, which will be planned cooperatively with the staff and administered by the Academic Collaboration Team (ACT) in charge of staff development.

A. The ACT will be responsible for planning, organizing, and supervising all in- service education programs for the improvement of instruction and administration.

B. The ACT will prepare and maintain an ongoing plan to provide a continuous articulated program of in-service education that will take into consideration:

1. Increasing the success of educators in guiding student learning and development so as to implement state and local educational standards, goals and initiatives.

2. Providing stimulating educational activities that encourage and motivate students to achieve at the highest levels and to become active learners.

3. The individual needs of staff for continued professional growth.

4. Competencies needed to implement new programs.

5. Competencies needed for updating techniques of supervision, evaluation, instruction, and use of materials and equipment.

6. Activities which will enrich the administrative, instructional and classified staff professionally.

7. Activities which will assist the administrative and instructional staff in linking training to student achievement.

C. The ACT will be responsible for providing a professional learning system which must:

1. Require principals and schools to use student achievement data, school discipline data, school environment surveys, assessments of parental satisfaction, and other performance indicators to identify school and student needs that can be met by improved professional performance.

2. Provide training activities coupled with follow-up support that is appropriate to accomplish district-level and school-level improvement goals and standards.

3. Continuously evaluate the quality and effectiveness of professional learning programs in order to eliminate ineffective programs and strategies and to expand effective ones.

4. Provide for teachers and administrators who have been evaluated as less than satisfactory. The School Board may require participation in specific professional learning programs as part of the improvement prescription.

II. The Superintendent will submit for board approval annually the Master In-service Plan.

III. The Board expects all personnel to maintain their certification and extend their professional competence.

IV. The Superintendent has the authority to organize and appraise in-service programs as one means for maintaining a position or advancing on the instructional staff salary schedule.

V. The Board considers it desirable that all staff members improve their skills in teaching the basics. During the validity period of certification, each teacher should strive whenever possible to participate in activities designed to upgrade competencies in those areas.

VI. The Superintendent has the authority to require principals to plan and evaluate individualized professional learning plans for teachers.