Cross Case Features: Context

Baker Middle School: District Context

The district, which serves approximately 2,500 students, emphasizes reaching the needs of all learners and pursues multiple approaches to learning and opportunities for enrichment. The district is undergoing a curriculum review in order to ensure that all curricula across grade levels are aligned with the state standards and the state assessment program. Although the district schools are generally seen to be high performing with 20 percent of the student population involved in gifted and talented programs or accelerated learning programs, the district and school leaders hope to become even better.

The state requires every district to have a professional development master plan that tells teachers how they can acquire credit. The district has identified seven priority areas around which all professional learning and other activities must be built. These priorities include: assessment, technology, choice theory, cooperative learning, curriculum integration, learning theories, and reading and writing across the curriculum. The idea is for all teachers, over time, to become competent in each of these areas, building from their own basis of expertise and sharing best practices with fellow teachers.

The Master Teacher program pays teachers with special expertise to conduct workshops and present information to colleagues. The work is on top of their regular job and requires them to meet certain goals. In relating the NCTA training to the master teacher program, one teacher said, “I think you could do that type of program with a content area like China.”

Professional development within the district has shifted from one-day workshops to four-day intensive institutes. In the past, the district offered teachers a choice among various one-day programs throughout the year, but school leaders concluded that these short-term “sit and get” workshops did not have much effect on teaching and learning practice. Recently, the district decided to require teachers to choose between a four-day intensive institute at the beginning of the year or one at the end of the year. This shift reflects the district’s belief in the importance of a coherent approach to professional learning where teachers develop common goals and practices. The district believes that the institutes give teachers opportunities to learn, reflect, apply, and refine their new knowledge and practice.