Find out how this small rural school system in Kansas is using PD 360 to give its teachers access to the top experts in education without the costs of conferences or bringing in the same experts. Along with real classroom examples, PD 360 offers differentiated professional development and ways to track the progress of each teacher. “The real experts are a big selling point of PD 360. Teachers sit up and take notice when they hear information coming straight from the people whose names and work are well known to them.” -John Thissen, Superintendent Herington Unified School District #487, Kansas Find more of our case studies here on SlideShare or visit http://www.schoolimprovement.com/research/case-studies/

1. School Improvement Network
Case Study
Small, Rural Kansas District
Incorporates Differentiated Teacher
Improvement Despite Budget Cuts
Herington Unified School District #487, Kansas
“PD 360 materials are excellent, simple to Always striving to improve, the district wanted
use, and will benefit anyone in education. a convenient way to develop effective teachers,
Our teacher performance is improving encouraging student education preparatory to college
because with a resource they like, they are and career. USD #487 Superintendent John Thissen
open to change and more motivated.” began looking for a program that was all of the following:
• Differentiated
John Thissen • Cost Effective
Superintendent • Simplified
Herington Unified School District #487, Kansas • Accessible
Mr. Thissen received the answer he needed when TEEN
PROFILE introduced PD 360 to its associate districts.
Herington Unified School District #487 (USD #487) is a
small system in a rural area of central Kansas. It consists SOLUTIONS
of an elementary, junior high, and high school contained
within two buildings serving approximately 524 students Mr. Thissen is a superintendent who thoroughly enjoys
with 43 teachers. Students benefit from valuable small where he is and what he does. He is committed to
district strengths such as additional teacher attention and providing teachers and administrators with the resources
more opportunities for participation in extracurricular needed to build student success. An engaged and
activities. informed leader, he quickly saw the potential of an online,
on-demand professional development (PD) system.
Herington USD #487 is a member of the Technology A vital component of School Improvement Network’s
Excellence in Education Network (TEEN) which was Teacher Effectiveness System, PD 360 provides solid
created in 1992 for the purpose of Interactive Distance solutions for USD #487 focuses.
Learning (IDL). The partner districts are Peabody USD
#398, Hillsboro USD #410, Marion USD #408, and Centre Differentiated Professional Development
USD #397. IDL is a way for education to carry on even PD 360 is a personalized resource that is responsive to
though the teachers or students may be at different teacher levels and is mindful of their diverse abilities.
locations, allowing districts to share teachers and offer Rather than waiting for workshops or conferences,
classes to students from other schools. teachers can rapidly find answers to their own individual
classroom needs.
FOCUSES Cost Effective
Because of state budget cuts and a rural location,
Consistently high assessment scores confirm that sending educators to conferences or bringing in experts
maintaining student achievement and enabling teacher has become too costly and time consuming. Mr. Thissen
growth have always been priorities for USD #487. District finds PD 360 to be more economical for the district than
administrators recognize that student success relates traditional conferences and because educators have
directly to educator quality and make every effort to unlimited access, it is never just a one-shot training. It
support teachers becoming their best. absolutely has met his concern of finding PD that is high
quality yet cost effective.
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2. User Friendly trained in PD 360, can suggest program segments for a
From the easy navigation to the flexible applications, teacher to watch and can assign the reflection questions
USD #487 educators love that PD 360 is uncomplicated for tracking growth.
and user friendly. Every aspect is designed to assist busy
educators. License Renewal
Kansas teachers are required to earn 120 PD points for
Capacity/Accessibility license recertification every five years. To earn points,
District administrators are pleased that with one price, teachers can view a PD 360 course, implement strategies
educators are able to view programs as many times as from the session, and complete the reflection and follow-
they wish and as often as they need. Flexible for personal up questions. They are surprised and pleased by how
schedules rather than being limited to the school easy it is to accumulate the necessary hours.
calendar, teachers take charge of professional learning
according to their own timetable. “Since teachers are often pressed for time, they love the
flexibility of PD 360. It is simple to view the programs
anytime and anywhere so that accruing their required
ABOUT PD 360 certification hours becomes much easier.”
PD 360 is the multi-award winning, online, on- John Thissen
demand professional learning resource within School Superintendent
Improvement Network’s Teacher Effectiveness System. Herington Unified School District #487, Kansas
With 2,000+ videos on 117 topics from 120 experts, PD
360 has the largest online community of nearly one Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
million educators. It is the most comprehensive web- USD #487 is using PD 360 in PLCs to unify teachers with
based library of professional development resources common language and practice. The groups create goals,
available. Teachers, administrators, professional learning watch pertinent programs, and discuss how to apply the
communities, coaches, mentors, instructional leaders, practices in their own classrooms.
and paraprofessionals have available at their fingertips
hundreds of indexed and searchable video segments
that present real, best-practice classroom examples BENEFITS
and that feature respected education experts, such as
Michael Fullan, Rick DuFour, Doug Reeves, Rick Stiggins, Good Fit with Other Sources
and many others. Educators can instantly find the help Mr. Thissen is pleased that PD 360 meshes so well with
they need on nearly every topic, including differentiation, MyLearningPlan, a partner of School Improvement
assessment, English language learners, leadership, and Network and another resource the district is utilizing.
more. It can be used to create a structured learning
experience for an individual teacher, a PLC, or even an Real Classroom Examples
entire school. PD 360 and the Teacher Effectiveness It is an advantage for teachers to watch real classroom
System bridge the gap between training and classroom examples showing how the strategies are being
implementation with job-embedded follow-up, tracking, implemented. With a variety of models from across
and reflection tools. the country, USD #487 teachers actually see how to
See a demonstration at www.pd360.com. incorporate the practices in their own classes.
Tracking Features
IMPLEMENTATION AND DRIVING USAGE USD #487 administrators find the tracking features to
be very helpful in ensuring that teacher development is
Observations happening consistently. Teachers can follow their own
Classroom observations are impactful to teacher learning and growth by using the tracking tools to review
development and key to recognizing weak areas. After their reflection question entries.
a walkthrough, USD #487 principals provide instant
remediation by recommending PD 360 segment links Educator Enthusiasm
that are germane to the different needs of each teacher. Of the five TEEN districts, USD #487 has the most PD
360 usage. The teachers have quickly found that the
Professional Growth Plans more they use it, the more they like it, and the more
As part of the evaluation process, USD #487 teachers enthusiastic they are to continue using it.
meet yearly with principals to develop Professional
Growth Plans and to identify weaknesses. Principals,
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3. Herington Unified School District #487, Kansas
PD 360 Usage ABOUT SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
May 2011 – July 2012
Founded in 1991 by teachers, School Improvement
Collective Collective Collective
Registered Network has spent more time researching and
Programs Segments Minutes
Users documenting the best practices in education than any
Viewed Viewed Viewed
other organization in the world. From this research,
57 492 743 4171 School Improvement Network has developed the Teacher
Effectiveness System. The Teacher Effectiveness System
Recognized Education Experts outlines a step-by-step process to improve teacher
USD #487 teachers have easy access to 120 top practice, and arm educators with a set of powerful
education experts such as Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Richard tools that can be used to complete each step. Research
DuFour, Rick Stiggins, Gayle Gregory, and many others at shows that districts and schools that use the tools in the
their fingertips without waiting for conferences or paying Teacher Effectiveness System produce better teachers,
the related high costs. and as a result experience dramatic increases in student
achievement, driving up student test scores by as much
“The real experts are a big selling point of PD 360. as 30% in a single year. School Improvement Network
Teachers sit up and take notice when they hear information works with thousands of schools and districts in every
coming straight from the people whose names and work state and around the world and has visited over 3,500
are well known to them.” classrooms to document best practices in action. Learn
more at www.schoolimprovement.com.
John Thissen
Superintendent
Herington Unified School District #487, Kansas
CONCLUSION
By facilitating the addition of PD 360, Mr. Thissen has
guaranteed that USD #487 will have the tools needed
to build personalized teacher effectiveness and student
readiness. As a result, students will reap the advantages
of an exceptional education for years to come.
www.schoolimprovement.com | www.PD360.com | 800.572.1153