Support for Growth: A Staff Development Program

Mission: To ensure success for students by serving as a constant support for the growth and development of teachers and staff.

Providing support for growth while it continues to grow, Decatur's staff development program can perhaps best be described using a tree as a metaphor. With interdependent structures that work together to produce the fruit of student success, our systemic program functions out of our Professional Training Center and is following a five-year plan which was designed to be consistent with the strategic plan developed by Decatur's Board of Education.

The taproot of our staff development system, providing nourishment to all the other parts, is made up of two programs: Seven Habits of Highly Effective People to nurture and support growth on a personal level and Effective Schools School Improvement Process to nurture and support growth at the organizational level. Other roots are technology training, 4MAT, Hands-on Activity Science Program, and Reading Recovery. The first two are considered roots because they are impacting instruction at all levels, the latter two because they are causing paradigm shifts regarding delivery of instruction at all levels.

As an unobtrusive quiet strength, the roots provide support for the rest of the more visible parts of the tree--trunk, limbs, and leaves. The trunk represents local school staff development. Programs at this level are designed according to the mission, needs, and goals of each school. Limbs are programs peculiar to particular groups such as grade-levels, curriculum departments, cafeteria workers, and special education resource teachers. Leaves represent awareness-level programs that provide ideas new research and insights into successful practices of other educators.

For more information on the Decatur City Schools Staff Development Program contact Jeanne Payne (JPayne@dcs.edu) at (256) 552-3000. For questions regarding the PTC, contact Danny Truitt (dtruitt@ptc.dcs.edu) at (256) 552-3020.