Develop Staff

Develop staff at the school level

School systems are able to deliver excellent supports when staff receive useful professional development and become skillful practitioners of what is learned. Your staff’s knowledge and how they apply it will make the difference in whether your system is effective and sustainable.

Training is necessary

Training helps build teachers’ competency. With help from the district, schools must purposefully plan staff development and use processes that take best practices for adult learning into consideration.

Training provides:

• background information,
• introduction to skills and concepts, and
• theory and values of evidence-based programs and practices

Coaching is also critical

However, it’s important to understand that training alone will not result in changes to instructional practices and improved outcomes. Educators must also become fluent and skillful in the application of the new skills.

That’s where coaching is valuable. A coach helps teachers practice and use the skills they learned in training. Coaching promotes teacher confidence and ensures that evidence-based practices are being used as intended and to the maximum benefit of the learners.  

Keys to building and developing your staff

• Identify where staff need support
• Align school budget to your goals for implementation
• Commit adequate time and resources to support professional learning for staff
  • Deliver training on the skill content
  • Allow time to practice to fluency
  • Provide adequate support and feedback to staff
• Build time into your school’s schedule and calendar for collaboration and practice around these skills
• Embed activities related to your implementation (for example, training and coaching) into staff job descriptions
• Use a process to regularly communicate school-wide actions and results to all staff
• Ensure that orientation trainings (for new staff) and booster trainings (for existing staff) are conducted annually