Mobile County Public Schools already had a strong professional development system, but it needed some additional resources for individual learning without exceeding their budget. Find out what PD 360 was able to offer in terms of an online, on-demand PD resource with customizable courses for each teacher.

1. Case Study
School Improvement Network
HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA Lamesa ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA
Lamesa ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA Lamesa ISD HENRICO COUNTY
ARTESIA Lamesa ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA Lamesa ISD HENRICO
COUNTY ARTESIA Lamesa ISD Addresses
Large AL District HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA Lamesa ISD
Teacher Needs with Online
HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA Lamesa ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA
Lamesa ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA Lamesa ISD HENRICO COUNTY
Community Forums
ARTESIA Lamesa ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA Lamesa ISD HENRICO
COUNTY ARTESIA Lamesa ISD HENRICO COUNTY ARTESIA Lamesa ISD
MOBILE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, ALABAMA
“Following training in the use of the program, teachers
and principals have begun to look to PD 360 to sup-
port their professional learning needs.”
ment Network. It addressed district needs and was also
Patricia Hughes cost effective. Ms. Hughes suggested PD 360 to MCPSS
Director of Staff Development and has been satisfied with her decision.
Mobile County Public School System, AL
ABOUT PD 360
DISTRICT PROFILE
PD 360 is the leading on-demand professional learning
Mobile County Public School System (MCPSS) is located resource for educators with over 600,000 subscribers.
in the southwest corner of Alabama. It is a large district Teachers, administrators, professional learning commu-
with a school enrollment of more than 63,000 students nities, coaches, etc., have access to over 1,400 indexed
in over 100 public school buildings with approximately and searchable video segments that present real, best-
8,500 school employees. As a district, it is committed to practice classroom examples. Each segment includes
driving all teachers to take responsibility for the academ- content from respected educational experts such as
ic achievement of their students. Michael Fullan, Rick DuFour, Doug Reeves, Rick Stig-
gins, and many others. PD 360 can be used to create a
The mission of the MCPSS Department of Staff Develop-
structured learning experience for an individual teacher,
ment is to build district capacity to effectively and ef-
professional learning community, or entire school. It
ficiently improve student learning through a broad range
bridges the gap between training and classroom imple-
of systemic, intentional, ongoing professional learning
mentation with job-embedded follow-up, tracking, and
opportunities for MCPSS employees.
reflection tools. PD 360 also gives educators access to
the world’s largest online community of teaching profes-
DISTRICT NEEDS sionals that allows interaction and collaboration either
within a district or across the United States and around
the world. See a demonstration at www.pd360.com.
MCPSS was looking for an online professional develop-
ment (PD) solution to add to its already outstanding PD
program. It knew it wanted a product that would promote
and sustain individual learning and also work with its DRIVING USAGE AND IMPLEMENTATION
limited funding.
Getting key district personnel onboard was the first step
to introducing PD 360. Trainers from School Improve-
SOLUTION ment Network came to MCPSS to conduct onsite training
of administrators and teacher leaders for each school.
Patricia Hughes, Director of Staff Development at Mobile After training, they were encouraged to spend time
County Public School System, was introduced to PD 360, browsing and investigating the online tool and then to
an online teacher training solution from School Improve- instruct their teachers in its use.
www.schoolimprovement.com | www.PD360.com | 800.572.1153

2. Following teacher training, PD 360 was incorporated into > Recertification
several areas of district procedure, such as: • Administrators and teachers can view one segment of
a PD 360 course, complete the reflection questions
> Teacher Evaluation on the segment, implement ideas/strategies from
Administrators can use PD360 to support teacher profes- the session, and complete the follow-up questions to
sional growth as a part of their Professional Learning earn one clock hour in recertification.
Plans including the Reflection and Follow-up Questions • These courses can be completed as an individual or
after each segment. as a group, such as Professional Learning Communi-
> Principal Usage ties or Large Group (Faculty) Courses.
Administrator training includes a component on PD360.
This provides opportunities for administrators to identify
the possibilities that PD360 can bring to their staff’s job- BENEFITS
embedded professional learning.
> Teachers Who Struggle
MCPSS is experiencing many advantages as part of having
MCPSS principals, coaches, mentors, or instructional
the PD 360 package.
leaders can help struggling teachers by suggesting
specific PD 360 segments that show what best practices > Cost Effective
look like in needed areas. Each teacher’s usage as well PD 360 has been very cost-effective for MCPSS. The
as their answers to Reflection Questions and Follow-up expenditure is much less than traditional professional
Questions can be tracked to follow their growth. development and can be purchased with a variety of
> Interactive Learning Communities funding sources available to districts and schools, includ-
MCPSS is using the PD 360 Learning Communities to ing Title I, II, III, IV, V, VII, state funds, foundation funds,
allow teachers to communicate and collaborate with each federal and state grant monies, math funds, reading
other. Through it, teachers present each other with imple- funds, technology funds, etc. MCPSS provided PD360 as
mentation ideas, participate in discussion forums, upload an online resource.
lesson plans, and share Web links to helpful resources. > Educator Enthusiasm
Teachers and administrators can share best practices, Feedback from teachers has been enthusiastic as evi-
learn from one another, and eliminate classroom isolation denced by increasing use. Highlights of this first year of
regardless of location. Learning Communities can be cre- PD 360 usage include:
ated as public or private domains. Educators can commu-
nicate within the school, district, state, or world-wide. • 55% of MPCSS teachers and administrator viewed
programs with an average of 7.l program segments
> Reinforcement for District Initiatives viewed
PD 360 has the most current and complete professional • MCPSS educators viewed 7,092 program segments
development library available and covers nearly all initia- for a total of 30,514 minutes of professional develop-
tive plans. It has supported the following MCPSS initia- ment.
tives during this school year: • MCPSS educators reflected and processed their
• Professional Learning Unit (PLU) for Standard #3 for learning through 5,630 reflection responses and
teachers with administrative certification 1,390 answers to implementation follow-up ques-
• Professional Learning Unit (PLU) for Standard #7 for tions.
principals and assistant principals
• New Teacher Network > Job Embedded Professional Development
• Substitute Teacher Training As questions and situations arise in their own class-
• EDUCATE Alabama (teacher evaluation system) in the rooms, teachers can instantly find the answers and sup-
development of Professional Learning Plans (PLP) port they need to improve their own teaching. Answers
are obtainable in PD 360 when they need them instead
> Professional Learning Communities of waiting for district workshops. The MCPSS Board is
MCPSS has found that PD 360 supports its existing Pro- pleased to have teachers in classrooms with students
fessional Learning Communities. The PLC’s can watch a rather than sending them to conferences and workshops.
video segment from PD 360 and discuss how to apply the > Real Classroom Examples
practices in their classrooms. The accompanying Facilita- Director Hughes has been pleased with the wide vari-
tor Guides provide group activities, discussion questions, ety of real classrooms from across the country that are
lesson plans, and graphic organizers. Many include hand- shown in every PD 360 program so that teachers can
outs that can be printed on-demand. actually see how to implement best-practices in their own
classroom teaching.
www.schoolimprovement.com | www.PD360.com | 800.572.1153

3. such as Michael Fullan and Douglas Reeves, and show
how to put theory into practice. With its focus on long-
> Research Based term improvement, sustainability, and greater internal
PD 360 programs are always research-based and capacity, the School Improvement Network helps its
classroom-proven, dealing with nearly every educational clients close achievement gaps, meet high standards and
initiative of the past two decades. Each program shows increase student learning for both elementary education
real classrooms from around the country illustrating how and secondary education.
to use the best practices. To learn more about School Improvement Network’s
dynamic resources, visit www.schoolimprovement.com.
> Respected Experts
Courses by well-known education authorities are readily
available for candid answers to MCPSS teachers’ tough
questions and everyday classroom management rather
than sending teachers to attend expensive conferences.
Ms. Hughes is delighted to have “experts brought to
more people in a time effective way that involves follow-
up and reflection.”
> Tracking Features
MCPSS teachers follow their own growth curve by using
the tracking tools and reflection questions at the end of
each segment while administrators use PD 360’s inte-
grated tracking, reporting, and follow-up to ensure that
teacher professional development happens consistently.
> Vast Library of Specific Content and Relevant
Topics
MCPSS educators can instantly find the help they need
in the 1,400 fully-indexed video learning segments
that address the most pertinent topics and content is
continually being added with more programs that are up
to date and applicable. Ms. Hughes is also delighted that
most segments are directed to teachers of elementary,
middle, and secondary classes.
“We anticipate that MCPSS educators will increas-
ingly look to PD 360 to address their job-embedded
professional development needs and to support their
improvement efforts through networking with other
learners on PD 360 on-line community forums.”
Patricia Hughes
Director of Staff Development
Mobile County Public School System, AL
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The School Improvement Network is the leading provider
of teacher education and teacher training, specializing in
on-demand, research-based professional development
anytime, anywhere. As the home of The Video Journal
of Education, PD 360, and the Leadership and Learning
360º Framework, School Improvement Network’s educa-
tion training resources focus on the most relevant topics
such as classroom management, feature top experts
www.schoolimprovement.com | www.PD360.com | 800.572.1153