Annual Report 2005-2006 - Farmington Public Schools

Farmington Public Schoolsis a Learning OrganizationEast Middle School seventh graders participate in the Reality Store.This event included members of the community sharing their jobswith students.Staff Development has a significant role in the Farmington Public Schools learningcommunity. Opportunities for continual professional growth are offered across all jobclassifications and in a variety of venues.Professional Learning Communities (PLC) are critical to our vision of staff developmentas staff meet and work together to achieve the fundamental purpose of theschool, which are high levels of learning for all students. Early release, delayed startand weekly PLC meetings afford staff time to meet in a collaborative culture tofocus on student learning and results. To build our leadership capacity and skills,staff from nearly every school has attended summer PLC conferences, the latestone in June of 2005.In addition, teaching staff continue to receive training in the areas of bestinstructional practice which strengthen each teacher’s ability to deliveressential skills in the areas of science, math, social studies and languagearts to the District’s increasingly diverse student population. Other areas ofskill development include cooperative and brain-based learning, literacy,differentiation of instruction, portfolio assessment, and student-involvedconferences. Staff from all job roles has the opportunity to advance theirlearning in the areas of leadership, first aid, diversity, peer mediation andsubstance abuse prevention. The Staff Development Department alsoconducted workshops and training sessions focused on the diverse needsof all Farmington School employees through its coupon book offerings.In addition to the summer work with Professional Learning Communities,staff members were also involved in summer workshops at both theDistrict and site levels. These workshops provided the opportunity for staffto pursue agendas such as improving transition procedures betweenmiddle and high schools, advancing North Central Accreditation goals, usingassessment for learning, mapping curriculum and enhancing our ability tomore effectively communicate with parents about a student’s progress withthe help of technology. Farmington was host to a three-day institute foreducators in July with nationally renowned speakers around the use of data toguide instruction and enhance student achievement. A one-day conference wasconducted for teachers at the Holocaust Memorial Center in which they exploredthe use of the Center’s resources to support our curriculum.Finally, new teacher training, which is supported by mentoring relationshipswith veteran staff, continues to enrich Farmington’s newest human resources.FPS Parent/Community Survey - 200514A majority of respondents, 55 percent, said the quality of educationprovided by the District is better than that provided by surroundingschool districts.