Overview

The Lafayette School District values professional development as fundamental to the success of the district. Professional development increases educators’ knowledge and enhances their professional skills, deepens educators’ understanding and appreciation for the varied needs of students and enhances educators’ capacity to facilitate the learning success of all students. This Professional Development Three-Year Plan has been developed to provide the structure and means through which educators continuously enhance their professional competency. Creating and sustaining a teacher effectiveness system that enhances student achievement hinges on a well-developed professional development strategy focused on District Goals. The plan includes implementation of key initiatives within the Strategic Plan and District Goals.

This plan recognizes that high quality professional development that improves the learning of all students is: 
• driven by the results of a regular and systematic analysis of a variety of data and information on student learning 
• focused on the effective implementation of research-based educational practices 
• responsive to the unique learning needs and styles of each individual educator 
• best accomplished through the development of collaborative learning communities whose goals are aligned with the priorities of the district.