West Virginia Code 18-2I-1 – Professional development coordination and delivery; system goals
The purpose of this article is to establish clear state-level leadership for professional development for all West Virginia public school educators and administrators. As the state institution charged with the general supervision of the state school system, the state board shall institute a system for the coordination and delivery of high-quality professional development. The system shall clearly define the goals for professional development and delineate roles and responsibilities of the various state, school district and individual school levels for the delivery of high-quality professional development. The state board shall include among the goals for the system of professional development the following:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 18-2I-1
- board: means a county board of education. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
- School: means the students and teachers assembled in one or more buildings, organized as a unit. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- State board: means the West Virginia Board of Education. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
- Teacher: means a teacher, supervisor, principal, superintendent, public school librarian or any other person regularly employed for instructional purposes in a public school in this state. See West Virginia Code 18-1-1
(1) The instructional leadership skills of principals are developed to ensure that each school is led by a principal who is knowledgeable of continuous improvement processes and capable of leading effective improvement efforts. The principal also must understand the value of fair and accurate personnel performance evaluations as an effective, continuous improvement effort to drive professional learning at the school level;
(2) Professional development is among the array of supports and processes necessary under a performance-based accreditation system to build the capacity of schools to impact student performance and well-being by increasing staff individual and collective skills, competencies, and abilities. It should be based on a thorough analysis of accountability data and strategic planning for continuous improvement that addresses those areas that must be a priority for individual school support, including an analysis of personnel evaluation data in order to target individualized professional learning at the school level;
(3) The school is the unit of change. Local and state resources, policies, and procedures must focus on assisting the improvement of each West Virginia school and on differentiating supports according to need and level of performance, including the implementation of school-based professional development programs that address the unique needs of staff and students; and
(4) Professional development should be delivered using techniques, school schedules or time in a manner that does not diminish student learning by the absence of their classroom teacher.