The Arkansas Department of Education recently added Common Core Standards and other relevant content to their professional development program in PD 360. They also incorporated PD 360 into their online portal for professional development. Read the case study to learn more about why the NSDC named them one of the top states for professional development.

1. Case study
HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA LAmESA ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA
School Improvement Network
LAmESA ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA LAmESA ISD HENRICO COUNTY
ARTESIA LAmESA ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA LAmESA ISD HENRICO
arkansas dOe adds
COUNTY ARTESIA LAmESA ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA LAmESA ISD
HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA standards
Common Core LAmESA ISD LAmESA ISD HENRICO COUNTY
HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA
LAmESA ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA
and Relevant Content
ARTESIA LAmESA ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA LAmESA ISD HENRICO
COUNTY ARTESIA LAmESA ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA LAmESA ISD
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, ARkANsAs
“PD 360 provides all Arkansas educators with on-
demand access to research-based professional
development. It enhances current professional
development activities and supports common language
and practice statewide.”
• The 2008 edition of Education Week’s Quality
Counts ranked Arkansas’ public education system
Deborah Coffman eighth in the country and second in terms of poli-
Professional Development Coordinator
Arkansas Department of Education cies for teacher quality.
dIstRICt PROFILe FOCus
In 2000, as part of its effort to improve teacher quality,
The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) is serious the state raised the minimum professional develop-
about education with a strong commitment to student ment required to retain a teaching license from 30 to 60
achievement. It strives to ensure that all children in the hours per year.
state have access to a quality education by supporting
teachers and school administrators through top-notch On september 6, 2006, ADE introduced its new Internet
curriculum development and ongoing, research-based Delivered Education for Arkansas schools (IDEAs) portal
learning opportunities. to provide online PD for districts and teachers. It wanted
to make teacher training easier, more job-embedded,
• In 2010, scores on both the Arkansas Augmented and more targeted to the actual needs of its more than
Benchmark exams and stanford Achievement 35,000 teachers. It wanted to supply its teachers with
Test again improved, with more than 60 percent of the best online PD resources, which in turn would raise
Arkansas’s public school students at all grade levels student proficiency scores.
scoring at grade level or higher on the benchmark
exams. At some grades, more than 80 percent are
scoring at grade level or higher. sOLutION
• The achievement gap between majority and minor- The fifteen education service cooperatives throughout
ity students narrowed for the fourth year in a row on Arkansas offer support to the school districts in their
the 2010 Arkansas Augmented Benchmark Exams. region and provide PD opportunities. ADE Professional
• The National staff Development Council (NsDC) has Development Coordinator, Deborah Coffman, and
chosen Arkansas as one of the top states in profes- the cooperatives were very familiar and involved with
sional development (PD). The Video Journal of Education PD videos. They were
pleased to learn the programs were available online as
an on-demand product called PD 360 and quickly added
it to their IDEAs portal.
www.schoolimprovement.com | www.PD360.com | 800.572.1153

2. aBOut Pd 360 show in small group, large group, and faculty meetings to
illustrate instructional stratagems and to open up discus-
sions.
PD 360 is an on-demand library of professional teacher
development resources that leverages technology to > strategies of the Week
make professional learning more effective, convenient, Ms. Coffman feels that the strategy of the Week is very
and sustainable. With over 200 hours of research-based informative. she plans on customizing it to meet Arkan-
video content, plus tools for follow-up, tracking, reflec- sas needs and distributing it to all district users.
tion, and group training, PD 360 is the most compre- “strategy of the Week” is a free weekly resource offered
hensive solution to your professional teacher develop- by school Improvement Network that provides valu-
ment needs. able professional development tips and information for
educators.
More than 600,000 educators across North America
already use PD 360 to access individualized support BeNeFIts
on the most relevant topics, like differentiation, minor-
ity student achievement, English language learners,
> Vast Library of Content
classroom instruction that works, leadership, assess-
Arkansas educators can immediately find the help they
ment, and many more. PD 360’s content is divided into
need in the 1,400 fully indexed, video learning seg-
hundreds of indexed and searchable segments that
ments that address the most pertinent topics for staff
make it easy for teachers, administrators, aspiring lead-
development with easy search ability.
ers, coaches, mentors, paraprofessionals, and profes-
sional learning communities to find the answers they > Relevant Topics
need. New content is continually added to keep educa- Innovative content is continually being added to the
tors up-to-date. see a demonstration at www.pd360. indexed and searchable video segments giving Arkan-
com. sas educators the most current and comprehensive PD
library available.
dRIVING usaGe aNd IMPLeMeNtatION
“PD 360 is timely information for teachers. The topics
are relevant and more programs are continually being
The education service cooperatives began by taking PD
added. ADE is pleased with the Common CORE stan-
360 to the districts, teaching them how to use it and of-
dards material and we are looking forward to more.”
fering suggestions for implementation. The districts have
applied it in a variety of ways. Deborah Coffman
Professional Development Coordinator
> Teacher License Renewal Arkansas Department of Education
Ms. Coffman is very pleased to have PD 360 available in
the IDEAs portal for teachers to use towards their 60 li-
> Customizable
cense renewal hours as well as for personal professional
Arkansas districts can customize PD 360 to align with
growth. They are allowed to use an indefinite amount of
state, district, and school requirements and initiatives
PD 360 hours towards teacher certification.
in the coming year. As teachers and administrators view
> Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) these aligned segments, they can actually see what the
PD 360 is used in Professional Learning Communities standards and best practices look like when implement-
in Arkansas districts and schools. It supports the groups ed in real classrooms.
with a solid resource to study and the autonomy to work
on subjects that relate to their needs. PLC’s watch a PD > Rising Proficiency scores
360 video segment and discuss how to apply the prac- ADE is witnessing unprecedented gains in the educa-
tices in their classrooms. tional achievement of students and the proficiency
scores have been rising steadily. Within the professional
> New Teachers development program, PD 360 has played a large part
New teachers are quickly introduced to PD 360 and in these accomplishments.
trained to use it as a teaching resource. After they are
told about district goals and objectives, assignments
aRKaNsas dePaRtMeNt OF eduCatION
are given to watch certain videos and answer reflection
questions so they can understand implementation of PeRCeNt PROFICIeNt & adVaNCed
those goals. 2006 2010
> Group Trainings GRade MatH LIteRaCy MatH LIteRaCy
Principals in Arkansas are excited to have collaborative 3th 67 57 84 71
viewing readily available. They use PD 360 videos to
8th 44 66 63 76
11th - 45 - 60
www.schoolimprovement.com | www.PD360.com

3. > Closing the Achievement Gap aBOut sCHOOL IMPROVeMeNt NetWORK
PD 360 has a wide variety of differentiated instruction
strategies that are helping ADE to close the achieve-
ment gap that separates economically disadvantaged The school Improvement Network is the leading provider
students and students of color from less disadvantaged of teacher education and teacher training, specializing
students. in on-demand, research-based professional develop-
ment anytime, anywhere. As the home of The Video
> Job Embedded / Accessibility Journal of Education, PD 360, and the Learning 360
Professional development should not be identical for Framework, school Improvement Network’s education
each teacher, but should be responsive to a teacher’s training resources focus on the most relevant topics,
day-to-day practices in school and student needs. As such as classroom management. The resources also
questions and situations arise in classrooms, teachers feature top experts such as Michael Fullan and Doug-
instantly find answers in PD 360 to improve teaching las Reeves, and show how to put theory into practice.
and give support when needed instead of waiting for With its focus on long-term improvement, sustainability,
district workshops. and greater internal capacity, the school Improvement
“PD 360 is available with 24/7 access for immediate Network helps its clients close achievement gaps, meet
help. By removing the barriers that have traditionally high standards and increase student learning for both el-
closed PD on holidays and weekends, it really gives ementary education and secondary education. To learn
teachers the opportunity for a job-embedded resource.” more about school Improvement Network’s dynamic
resources, visit
Deborah Coffman www.schoolimprovement.com.
Professional Development Coordinator
Arkansas Department of Education
> Real Classroom Examples
A variety of real classrooms from across the country are
shown in every PD 360 program so that teachers can
actually see how to implement classroom management
strategies into their own teaching.
> Respected Experts
Courses by over 120 well-known education authorities
are readily available for candid answers to Arkansas
teachers’ tough questions and everyday classroom
management rather than sending teachers to attend
expensive conferences.
> Content Retention
The short segments of PD 360 prevent PD from
being overwhelming and allow users to retain more
information than full day trainings.
> User Friendly
From easy navigation to versatile uses, every aspect
of PD 360 is designed with educators in mind and
is simplified for their personal teacher education.
In addition, Ms. Coffman says working with school To read more case studies, scan this QR
Improvement Network has been an easy, pleasant code with a smartphone or visit www.
experience. schoolimprovement.com/casestudies
CONCLusION
As a result of adding it to the IDEAs portal, ADE has
truly made PD 360 its own. It is enhancing PD activities
while supporting common language and practice
statewide. All of Arkansas’ more than 35,000 educators
have constant on-demand access to research-based
professional development and students are benefiting
with higher scores.
It is a winning combination for an entire state.
www.schoolimprovement.com | www.PD360.com