Category Archives: Professional Development

Academic and Career Planning: The School Mission Implementation Plan

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Part 2

Written by Grey Davis

Putting ACP into Practice

Post-secondary readiness has undergone significant changes over the past decade. The traditional model of providing a college preparatory education is no longer sufficient. This outdated approach limits the potential of young adults and does not align with the modern-day need to prepare students comprehensively for life beyond high school.

While preparing students for college remains important, there is a growing recognition that a holistic approach is necessary to equip students for various aspects of adult life. Schools across the United States are adapting to this trend by focusing on broader life skills and readiness (Redefining Ready, 2017). Continue reading →

Academic and Career Planning: The New Post-Secondary Plan

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Part 1

Written by Grey Davis

The Paradigm Shift

There is a change happening in the way young people and their parents in the United States view the purpose of education. Previous generations saw bachelor’s degrees as a means to economic achievement and a way to secure a better future than their parents. In that climate, a college prep focus in high school was coveted. From 1950 to 2010, the percentage of people in their twenties with a bachelor’s degree grew from 7.7% to 31.7% in the U.S. (Horowitz, 2018).

More recently, the proliferation of college degrees and the lack of practical application for many majors results in college graduates filling low-paying, unskilled positions or retraining for useful trades. At the same time, salaries in skilled trades are rising due to a shortage of workers in these fields. Critical skilled job hiring in the U.S. could be more than 20 times the projected annual increase in net new jobs from 2022-2032 (McKinsey and Company, 2024). Continue reading →

Make Your School More Effective

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Written by Steven Haag

The Case for Professional Learning Communities
The best way to make your school great is to empower teachers by boosting their collective efficacy. Hattie (2017) found this made schools four times more effective than typical schools. Professional learning communities (PLCs) create that kind of teacher empowerment. When teachers work together to further develop their craft, they are building their collective efficacy, and PLCs provide the structure for them to do just that.

A professional learning community is a structure in which supportive professional relationships foster a collaborative culture that continually drives for successful change. PLCs affect positive school outcomes, primarily in the form of improved teacher efficacy (Kruse & Seashore Louis, 2009; Hord, 1997) and increased student performance (DuFour, Eaker, & DuFour, 2005). Continue reading →

Is Everyone in Your School on the Same Page?

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Written by Dr. John Meyer

Is everyone in your school on the same page when it comes to what effective teaching looks like? I recently spoke with two teachers who were frustrated by their principals’ feedback after a classroom observation.

In one case, the principal had complimented the teacher on his enthusiasm and nicely organized lesson, but suggested the teacher should plan better lesson introductions. The teacher felt like the discussion focused on things that were not very important to student learning. In the other case, the principal left a completed checklist in his teacher mailbox of things observed during the lesson without any written or verbal feedback. Continue reading →

Foster Teacher Collaboration with Micro-Credentials

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Written by Dr. John Meyer

What are the teachers at your school talking about? Schools where teachers talk positively about ways to improve teaching and learning are more successful than those that complain about students and parents (Ronfeldt, Owens Farmer, McQueen, & Grissom, 2015; Gruenert, 2005). Principals and teachers can use micro-credentials as a tool to create the kind of positive, professional collaboration that improves student achievement (Crow & Pipkin, 2017).

Micro-Credentials: Formal Recognition for Informal Learning
Earning Micro-Credentials is a way that teachers can receive formal recognition for skills learned informally. After all, teachers are constantly reflecting on and improving their practice. They experiment with new approaches learned through books, articles, inservices, and conferences. These new skills become effective teaching strategies in a teacher’s toolbox. But such competencies don’t show up in credits or clock hours. Micro-credentials give teachers a way to receive formal recognition for their skills from a respected institution, including colleges like the University of Wisconsin, MIT, Penn State, and Martin Luther College. Continue reading →

Do You Value Physical Education?

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Written by Prof. Dan Gawrisch

What does your physical education (PE) program look like at your school? Does your PE classroom look the same as it would have looked 10, 20, or even 40 years ago? Classrooms in every other academic discipline have continued to change and adapt with time, yet often our gym or PE area has not changed. The days of teaching PE with one ball and a whistle in a gym without technological capabilities are gone. Continue reading →

Improving Instructional Coaching and Evaluation

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Written by Seth Fitzsimmons

We need a good evaluation system in our WELS schools. Multiple education researchers, however, agree that teacher evaluation systems are troubled. Most do not do a good job differentiating between effective and ineffective teachers, and they do not aid much in professional growth. The annual conversation that WELS principals and their teachers have using the synod’s Teacher Performance Assessment tool can be uncomfortable and accomplish little. A more productive model for encouraging conversation and fostering teacher growth exists via the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching (FFT). The FFT is an excellent model for principals and staffs at WELS schools to consider because it focuses on teacher development rather than teacher evaluation. Continue reading →

A Case for Professional Development

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Written by Andrew Willems

The case for WELS teachers entering into ongoing professional development should be clear. As I’ve taken post-graduate classes, I appreciate those teachers who seek to stay current with readings and new technologies and modern pedagogy. As a parent, I have bad thoughts about my daughter having the same college professors I had–hoping they don’t use the same old strategies they taught me as a student! As a teacher, I know my students can instantly seek answers from the world wide web. Why can’t I? Continue reading →

Making Professional Development Count

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By Dr. John Meyer

The kinds of continuing education activities that most Lutheran teachers prefer are the least likely to help them grow in their skills.

Lutheran teachers prefer continuing their education in the summer through one-shot workshops or courses (figures 1 & 2). That’s not surprising since most Lutheran teachers also report having insufficient time (79%) and money (71%) (figure 3) for sustained continuing education during the academic year.

Recent research reveals, however, that one-shot trainings in the summer are the least effective (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009; Gulamhussein, 2013). Continue reading →

Let’s Not Burn Out Our New Teachers!

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By Jonathan Schaefer

As graduation approaches, Lutheran congregations and their new teachers have different expectations, and these expectations profoundly affect teacher performance and school culture.

Lutheran congregations’ top expectations focus on performance. Schmill (2015) shared that the top three qualities WELS schools look for in their teachers are 3) grounded and growing in teaching skills, 2) Christ-like servant, and 1) grounded and growing in God and his Word. Continue reading →