Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Kelvin Pieze
Sequoyah Middle School (SMS) is guided by a vision statement which states that "The mission of Sequoyah Middle School is
to be accountable to all stakeholders for providing a globally competitive education that empowers students to achieve academic and
personal goals and to become college and career ready, productive, responsible citizens." (Sequoyah Middle School Improvement
Plan, 2017). This vision statement is aligned with the vision statement of Clayton County Public Schools (CCPS) which is "The vision
of Clayton County Public Schools is to be a district of excellence preparing all students to live and compete successfully in a global
society. (Clayton County Schools Academic Achievement Plan, 2017) All CCPS schools are expected to model their visions and
missions statement after the districts vision and mission statement. Sequoyah Middle Schools' instructional technology plan is adopted
and mimics the instructional technology plan and technology mission of CCPS. Sequoyah's instructional staff has access to multiple
forms of educational technology, which includes but is not limited to computer labs, computer laptop carts, Chromebook carts, digital
whiteboards, class response systems, and online study tools. Also, all CCPS teachers and administrators are issued personal laptops to
complete work-related duties such as taking attendance, sending and responding to emails, and completing compliance reports.
Dr. Sonjia Bennings, an assistant principal of Sequoyah Middle School, stated that one of the focus-goals this year put forth by
the school's leadership team as stated in the school's vision statement is to get Sequoyah's students "college and career ready."
Working toward this goal Sequoyah's administration has emphasized the need for technology infusion into learning task and lessons.
Teachers, at Sequoyah, are now required to use technology in their teaching at minimum twice a week and indicate that use in their
lesson plans.
Needs Assessment
The professional development needs of the faculty and staff at Sequoyah Middle is less data-driven and more data-informed.
Through data collection, such as teacher surveys and request, Infinite Campus reports, administrative observations and walk-throughs,
and Edutrax reports, the administration makes decisions on what professional development is needed. "The data gathered and analyzed
by the administrative team is looked at holistically, and not as the leading factor in offering professional development to teachers,"
stated Dr. Bennings. Teachers who want additional professional development opportunities can attend face-to-face and online
professional learning classes through the S. Truett Cathy Professional Learning Center (PLC). Once a month, Clayton County Public
Schools has built in the master schedule a professional learning day for teachers. On this day, students get out of school early, so
teachers and administrators can meet as a staff and have county mandated professional development. These sessions, generally have an
agenda directed by the school district, are mandatory for all staff, and last three hours. On days after a school break, teachers also
participate in county-wide professional development with teachers from other schools that teach the same subject. These professional
learning days are used to discuss topics and issues relevant to the attending teachers' particular subjects. The administrative staff at
Sequoyah Middle tries not to use teachers' planning periods to hold professional development sessions, but on occasions must use
Professional Learning
Sequoyah Middle School has a comprehensive professional development plan that is denoted in Sequoyah's school
improvement plan. The school improvement plan calls for collaborative weekly grade-level, by-weekly subject-area, and monthly staff
meetings. Most professional development, at SMS, is conducted in a collaborative setting. The grade-level meetings are led by the
grade-level chair and the grade-level administrator. The topics of these meetings are usually grade-level specific, but general school
topics are sometimes discussed. The subject-area meetings are guided by district-level site facilitators. These site facilitators are
assigned to several schools around the district and specialize in one subject area, be it Mathematics, Science, English/Language Arts,
or Social Studies. The site facilitators provide professional development and support in the areas of (a) content knowledge, (b)
technology integration, (c) classroom management, (d) deconstructing the standard, and (e) assessment, and data analysis. Though the
site facilitators do travel from school-site to school-site, they are assigned to a specific school once a week to provide support to any
teacher that needs help. The staff meetings are led by Sequoyah's administration. These meetings are used for whole-group staff
development. The focus of these meetings includes but are not limited to (a) lesson planning, (b) use of non-subject specific
technology tools, (c) book studies and discussions, and (d) Georgia Milestones Assessment System (GMAS) testing. During these
meetings, teachers have the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other and get feedback from there colleagues.
Instructional technology staff development is sometimes conducted by the school's technology contact, who also teaches a full
class load. These staff development opportunities are held after-school and are strictly voluntary. Dr. Bennings stated, "Teachers are
not required to attend, unless they have been placed on a professional development plan (PDP) for technology integration, by the
school's administration." (K. Pieze, personal communication, January 2018). The attendance at these meetings is usually low, with no
more than five teachers attending. Often, the attending teachers are in their first or second year of teaching.
Alignment
Using Sequoyah's Comprehensive School Improvement Plan as a guide, the administration team develops and offer
professional learning opportunities for the staff. The plan set-forth action steps/task to be taken to ensure teachers are well prepared to
meet the goals of SMS's vision and mission. These steps comprise tasks such as off-campus professional development, co-teaching
and the WIDA Consortium. During these types of conferences, teachers learn from experts in the field of teaching and learning, and
language acquisition. Staff members also participate in co-teaching mentoring opportunities on a semester basis. At least once a
semester, teachers are required to collaborate and team-teach cross-curriculum lessons. Students seem to enjoy these lessons because
they make connections between the different subjects they are being taught.
Sequoyah's school improvement plan has several goals, one of which is goal 6, which is geared towards the recruitment and
retention of highly qualified and effective staff members. To reach this goal, Sequoyah's administrators have put into place a
mentoring program for all new teachers to the school. In this program, mentors and mentees meet regularly to discuss issues and
discuss the implementations of lessons. Veteran teachers also assist the teachers they are mentoring with technology issues they may
be having.
Funding
Professional development at Sequoyah Middle School is funded by Title-I funds and funding request to the district's
professional learning center. In years past, Sequoyah was given a budget to pay for professional learning opportunities for teachers and
staff, but due to current district policy changes, request for professional development funding must now be made to the PLC in writing
with a purpose and rationale on how the professional development will affect student achievement. Sequoyah Middle also has another
source of funding, which comes from its Title-I budget. The school's administration has some discretion on how the Title-I budget is
spent, but all allotted money must be spent on the students or programs for student achievement. Title-I funds are used for professional
development, technology purchases, material purchases, and to pay the salaries of some non-instructional staff members. Title-I
funding is dependent on the number of students receiving free or reduced lunch, which is all of the students at Sequoyah Middle
School. While the current Title-I budget, for the district, is not yet available the budget for the fiscal year of 2017 was, $21,152,695.
Funds for teacher incentives are raised through a combination of teacher-exclusive fundraisers and donations from partners-in-
education. Teachers have the opportunity to buy lunches and school paraphernalia with all revenues going to programs for teachers at
Sequoyah. Local businesses also donate items, such as snack foods, to the school for teacher consumption. These items are given to
Diversity
Sequoyah Middle School has a diverse student population and because of this, care is taken to address the needs of all students.
Professional development is taught to teachers to meet the needs of the Special Education student population and the English
Language Learners (ELL) population throughout the year. General education teachers and connection teachers, physical education,
band, etc., all receive professional development on strategies on how to implement students' Individual Educational Plans (IEPs). This
training is continuous, and special education teachers are always available to further assist teachers in implementing effective
instructional methods. Teachers also receive yearly district mandated ELL training. This professional development is conducted by
the ELL teachers and encompasses training in instructional strategies, cultural awareness, and language acquisition. Teachers also
receive instruction on incorporating the different cultural backgrounds of their students into their lessons.
Collaboration
Teachers at Sequoyah Middle School participate in collaborative planning throughout the school year. Collaborative planning
takes place twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the teachers' planning periods. As mentioned previously, the collaborative
planning meetings are conducted by grade-level and by subject area. Teachers use these meetings to discuss classroom issues, to
brainstorm, to present student test data and curriculum plan. Subject-area meetings are led by the school's instructional site facilitators.
The site facilitators support teachers in their classroom instruction and breaking down of the standard. Teachers also participate in
monthly data talks. During these data talks, teachers present their student's unit test or chapter quiz data to the grade level. As part of
these data talks, teachers receive feedback from their colleagues and review action plans to increase student achievement. Teachers
also meet weekly by grade-level. During these meetings, teachers discuss across curriculum instructional strategies and issues
prevalent to their particular grade-level. As a check and balance, collaborative planning meetings are documented by the grade-level
chairperson or the subject-area lead teacher and submitted to the school's administration. This documentation is used by the school's
administration as evidence of collaboration in the teachers' Teacher Keys Effectiveness System evaluation.
Evaluation
The effectiveness of the professional development that is conducted at Sequoyah Middle School is evaluated several ways.
Administrators conduct walkthroughs of classes on a weekly basis, in addition to conducting three formal and three informal
observations of teachers throughout the school year. After the observations are conducted, teachers meet with the school's
administration to discuss what was observed and the areas of which need improvement. At a school level, district-level administrators
conduct bi-annual school focus walks to access if the school is in line with the district's vision and mission. Focus walks are conducted
by area superintendents and content-area supervisors, and the results of these focus walks are shared in a formal report with the
school's administration. Data obtained from walkthroughs, observations, and focus walks is used to gauge if the professional
Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Summary and Background Information. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2018, from
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Running head: CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 9
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
The means by which teachers, administrators, and other staff acquire, enhance, and refine
the knowledge, skills, practices, and dispositions necessary to create and support high levels of
EVIDENCE: Grade-level meeting with school administrators are held on Tuesdays were
as content-level meetings are held on Thursdays with site-facilitators. The dominate form of
professional learning is collaborative whole-group sessions, but recently the school’s
administration has started a professional learning book study, which the entire staff is participating
in. The professional learning needs of the teachers are determined by the administrative staff.
Teachers receive professional learning through face-to-face, coaching, online, and group sessions.
(K. Pieze, personal communication, January, 2018).
group, and face-to face. Teacher should also be encouraged to do walk-throughs of other teachers
classes during their planning periods.
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 15
EVIDENCE: Teachers are asked for feedback after most professional development
sessions. At all county-mandated professional development sessions, participants fill out an
anonymous survey, providing feed back to the professional-development facilitator and the
district’s professional learning center. (K. Pieze, personal communication, January, 2018).
integrate the diverse cultural backgrounds of their students into their lessons. (K. Pieze, personal
communication, January, 2018).