MPE Professional Development Resources

MPE is pleased to provide the following professional development resources to support its members’ professional growth for the benefit of themselves and their students, as research has proven that superior professional development is vital to elevated school performance.  MPE is not endorsing any provider or opportunity listed here; rather, the information is provided as a tool for MPE members in their endeavors. 

Training in the following areas is designed for administrators and/or school leadership teams:

	Classroom Instruction That Works
	Ensuring a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum
	Instructional Coaching
	Instructional Leadership
	Leading Schoolwide Literacy Initiatives
	Students with Disabilities

Teachers, as well as administrators, may attend training in the following:

	Art from Around the World
	Designing Programs for Struggling Learners & ELL
	English/Language Arts:  Strategies and Item Writing
	Math Strategies:  7th Grade Through Algebra 1
	Melded DOK and Differentiation

	Multi-Sensory Teaching
	Preparing for Mississippi’s Writing Assessments:  Grades 4-7, 8-10
	Using Your MCT2/SATP Data to Target Instruction

Each provider’s website is listed so that MPE members may contact individual providers for additional information or to register for these opportunities.  These professional development resources will be updated monthly, so please check back for the most recent information. 

Resources for Administrators

Classroom Instruction That Works

• The Mississippi Department of Education Office of Leadership and Development has partnered with the various regional service centers to bring the training opportunity “Classroom Instruction That Works” to Mississippi administrative educators. This module emphasizes research-based instructional strategies that meet the needs of all students. Through a wide variety of activities, participants learn guiding principles for using strategies, create and share classroom examples of model instructional practice, and learn techniques to monitor instruction.  (Gulf Coast Education Initiative Consortium; www.gceic.org/; free for GCEIC members and non-members; 10.0 SEMIs)

• November 9                     Pascagoula (Day 1 of 2)
• November 10                   Pascagoula (Day 2 of 2)

Ensuring a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum

• The Mississippi Department of Education Office of Leadership and Development has partnered with the various regional service centers to bring the training opportunity “Ensuring a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum” to Mississippi administrator educators. This module “Ensuring a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum” was developed so that participants will know and be able to understand the components of a viable curriculum, demonstrate how standards and Mississippi frameworks are essential to curriculum design, understand curriculum design, and understand the alignment between curriculum frameworks and assessments.  (Gulf Coast Education Initiative Consortium; www.gceic.org/; free for GCEIC members and non-members; 10.0 SEMIs)

• October 13                    Petal (Day 1 of 2)
• October 14                    Petal (Day 2 of 2)

Instructional Coaching

• The University of Mississippi’s Institute for Education and Workforce’s Instructional Coaching Institute is a 3-day program designed to help principals and school leaders learn to coach faculty members to embed standards-based education into the systems and practices of their schools.  The first day of the Institute explores how to become an effective instructional coach and introduces a six-step process adopted by the National Institute for School Leadership.  The following two days, participants learn how to analyze instruction in the classroom and apply the coaching techniques to individual and group settings. (662.791.8150 or 662.915.2707; enrollment is limited to 25 principals and administrators)

Instructional Leadership

• JBHM Education Group’s Institute for Instructional Leaders equips school leaders with the tools they need to serve as instructional leaders.  This three-day interactive Institute provides intensive training on the basics of each area of need.  During the Institute, participants will learn to:

	Interpret assessment data related to state and federal accountability
	Use data to drive instructional practice
	Understand special education issues and implications
	Conduct classroom observations with a focus on student learning
	Provide constructive feedback to teachers
	Utilize all resources effectively

(www.jbhm-edgroup.com; $7,500 per district with 20 participants required; regional institutes are presented with individual registration available)

     Leading School Wide Literacy Initiatives

• Achieving literacy for all citizens is a national problem that has become a top education priority for the federal government and for educators across the nation. School leaders must be able to recognize effective literacy instruction and observe and conference with teachers about good literacy practices. These include a complete set of complex reading, writing and language skills to help students handle a variety of texts as they go through school and beyond. This module is designed to close the gap in what leaders know about literacy and what they must know to provide literacy leadership in schools.  (Gulf Coast Education Initiative Consortium; www.gceic.org/; free for GCEIC members and non-members; 10.0 SEMIs)

   

  • December 8                                 Columbia (Day 1 of 2)
  • December 9                                 Columbia (Day 2 of 2)

    Students with Disabilities

• The University of Mississippi’s Institute for Education and Workforce’s Students with Disabilities Institute is a two-day program designed to prepare principals for exercising leadership in mobilizing staff to address the learning needs of students with disabilities, and in designing and managing continuous professional development systems for all staff in the school around supporting all students, including those with disabilities.  The program is not a course on Special Education law and regulations. The program is divided into five main topics:
  

	Designing assessments for progress monitoring
	Developing sound instructional goals
	School wide behavioral interventions
	Instructional and assessment accommodations
	Organizing the school to support and sustain high quality learning experiences for students with disabilities

(For additional information, call 662.791.8150 or 662.915.2707)

Resources for Administrators and Teachers

      Art from Around the World

• The purpose of this workshop is to enlighten elementary teachers with ways to incorporate art in their curriculum from around the world.  Participants will be engaged in hands-on activities that will assist them in connecting art with the subjects in a fun-filled way for the students in their class.  The content will be presented to the group in an informal setting using visual aids.  Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions, develop lessons for integrating art with other subjects, and leave with an assortment of ways to teach art from around the world (without actually being artistic yourself)!  Please wear old comfortable clothing because you will get a little messy. (East Mississippi Center for Educational Development; www.emced.org/;  free for EMCED members, $50 for non-members; 0.5 CEUs)

• October 14                Meridian

      Designing Programs for Struggling Learners & ELSS

• A primary responsibility for administrators today is to meet the needs of all learners (especially those who struggle to meet standards) while supporting teachers as they learn new methods that will accelerate learning for students who need the most assistance. This workshop provides practical advice for administrators and other educators who are interested in increasing student achievement of students who struggle to met federal and state requirements (e.g., AYP, Accreditation Levels, or other accountability concerns).  This workshop will include information to address issues such as: 

1. Low performing students;
2. Students with disabilities in the regular classroom (least restrictive environment);
3. Needs of English Language Learners;
4. Requirements of Teacher Support Teams;
5. Meaningful, achievable and sustainable academic growth.

SEMI credit will be available, but please be advised that there are not CEUs available for this training. This workshop is designed for administrators and is open to teachers as well. (Gulf Coast Education Initiative Consortium; www.gceic.org/; free for GCEIC members and non-members; 5.0 SEMIs)

• September 10                 Picayune

 

      English/Language Arts:  Strategies and Item Writing

• This workshop is designed to present to teachers workable strategies to prepare students for the MCT2 Language Arts and English II assessments. A major component of the workshop will be to gain expertise in creating test items for teacher-made assessments that are aligned with the state assessments. Teachers should bring with them to the session a copy of their grade-appropriate language arts framework and performance level descriptors as well as a textbook currently being used in their classrooms. (PREPS; www.preps.msstate.edu/professional/; 5 SEMIs, 0.6 CEUs; 662-325-3720)

• September 22               Clarksdale
• October 14                     Madison County

    Math Strategies: 7th Grade Through Algebra I

• This workshop was developed based on needs expressed by teachers through hundreds of contact hours.  These strategies are designed to align with the new Mississippi Mathematics Framework and Vertical Alignment.  Specific audience are teachers who are teaching math from 7th grade to Algebra I.  During the workshop, participants learn how to integrate engaging activities, technology, and prior knowledge into the math classroom.  They will also increase content knowledge across grades and subjects.  Ms. Stephanie McCullough is a recognized and often sought after presenter for the Mississippi Department of Education.  (Gulf Coast Education Initiative Consortium; www.gceic.org/;  $50 for GCEIC members, $100 for non-members; 0.6 CEUs)

   

  • August 22                                     Gulfport
  • February 20                                  Gulfport

     Melded DOK and Differentiation

• Most teachers now understand the four levels of Webb’s Depth of Knowledge and can recognize tasks and items at certain levels, but some teachers still feel insecure about creating items, analyzing items already written, and taking classroom instruction into the high levels we need to in order to challenge students to think in more complex ways. Additionally, differentiation is an essential component in student success. Teachers, through looking at Performance Level Descriptors (PLDs) and through knowing their students can differentiate to meet students’ needs. This full day session will help teachers in goal-setting and mastery at appropriate DOK levels, in analyzing textbook supplied and teacher-made assessments to see if items meet DOK levels desired; developing rubrics to use in scoring level 3 and 4 tasks, assessments, research projects, and hands-on projects; developing and implementing routines and techniques to use in the differentiated classroom to develop more complex thinking with all students.  This session is hands-on and will take participants through all components of DOK and integrate with differentiated instruction.  (East Mississippi Center for Educational Development; www.emced.org/;  free for EMCED members and non-members; 5.0 SEMIs, 0.6 CEUs)

   

  • October 22                                    Meridian

    Multi-Sensory Teaching

• The Institute for Multi Sensory - Education will offer a 30-hour comprehensive training October 5-9. The training programs provide a multi-sensory approach to teaching reading, writing and spelling across the curriculum that meets your Response to Intervention (RTI) needs and the skills necessary to teach phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, vocabulary fluency and comprehension among other instructional methods. The comprehensive program enables the learner to have in-depth understanding of the expanded Orton-Gillingham methodology, assessment, high level skills and the tools to implement this program in an existing curriculum. For more information visit www.orton-gillingham.com or email IMSE@orton-gillingham.com.

     Preparing for Mississippi's Writing Assessments:  Grades 4-7, 8-10

• In Mississippi, writing is tested in grades three through eight and grade 10 in two ways: multiple choice assessments (MCT2 and SATP) and performance writing assessments at grades 4, 7, and 10. During this 2-day interactive workshop, teachers will use Mississippi's new writing rubrics to score student writing and examine best practices for teaching writing aligned with Mississippi's language arts framework and the writing assessments. Teachers will leave the workshop with a writing-process lesson to use in their classrooms.  (PREPS; www.preps.msstate.edu/professional/; 10 SEMIs, 1.2 CEUs; 662-325-3720)

   

  • September 1-2                                  Tupelo (Grades 8-10)
  • September 9-10                                DeSoto Co. (Grades 8-10)
  • September 15-16                              Starkville (Grades 4-7)
  • September 22-23                              Brookhaven (Grades 4-7)

     Using Your MCT2/SATP Data to Target Instruction

• A “How-To” session on analyzing MCT2/SATP data and a discussion of strategies to address identified areas of need. Activities will emphasize using participants' own data to target instruction. Participants should bring their MCT2/SATP data.  (PREPS; www.preps.msstate.edu/professional/; 5 SEMIs, 0.6 CEUs; 662-325-3720)

   

  • August 25                                            Coahoma A.H.S.
  • September 15                                    Marion County
  • September 24                                    Biloxi

Additional Resources

The Mississippi Department of Education’s Office of Leadership and Professional Development provides all school personnel with research-based professional development infused with nationally recognized “best practices” and training theories.  For more information, visit www.mde.k12.ms.us/olpd.

Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s PBS TeacherLine is the premier resource offering professional development courses online to PreK-12 teachers and school districts.  PBS’s facilitators lead over 100 standards-based courses that span the entire curriculum.  Coursework can cover a complete sequence of study or address a specific requirement, depending on a teacher’s or districts’s needs.  Visit:  www.pbs.org/teacherline.  Select “Course Catalog” – by state, drop down to “Mississippi.”  For more information, contact Jill Boteler at jill.boteler@mpbonline.org or 601.432.6203.

Mississippi e-Learning for Educators is a partnership between Mississippi Public Broadcasting and the Mississippi Department of Education which uses an online delivery model to provide effective professional development, leading to gains in educators’ content knowledge, improvements in teaching practices and increased student achievement.  Participants learn and share best practices and instructional resources through interactive communities.  You may view the course listing at http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/olpd/edtech/index.html.