How might we best support our teachers as we work to implement new initiatives with fidelity? There seem to be too many initiatives, too few workshop days, and too few instructional coaches/technology integrators. And we don’t just want teachers attending workshops, we want them to feel supported as they go back to their classrooms and work to implement our initiatives well.

An Overview of Proficiency-based Professional Learning.

Maine’s Initiatives (Where we learned we needed professional learning that is proficiency-based):

• MLTI (Maine Learning Technology Initiative)
  • MLTI Home
  • An Introduction to MLTI
• Auburn’s iPads in Primary Grades Initiative
  • Auburn’s Leveraging Learning Institute (primary grades iPads)
  • There is now a statewide (Maine) pilot of Primary Grades Literacy and iPads
• Proficiency-based Learning
  • Maine: At the Forefront of Proficiency-Based Learning 
  • The Four Biggest Challenges to Implementing Maine’s Proficiency-Based Diploma
  • Getting to Proficiency: Helping Maine Graduate Every Student Prepared (MDOE)

What’s ok with young learners and technology (since there were questions):

• Auburn’s randomized control trial with iPads in primary grades
• Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8 – Position Paper from NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children)
• Early Learning and Educational Technology Policy Brief – from the US Dept of Ed, Office of Educational Technology
• American Academy of Pediatrics Recommendations for Children’s Media Use
• Digital Guidelines: Promoting Healthy Technology Use for Children from the APA (American Psychological Association)

Some Possible Professional Learning Curricula:

• Maine Learning Technology Framework
• A Plain English Instructional Model
• 12 Professional Learning Buckets for Learning Through Technology
• Not All At Once: Breaking Your Initiative Into Phases

Possible Systems for Tracking Professional Learning:

• Educate (a learning progress management system for proficiency-based learning)
• Micro-credentials
  • Micro-credentials 101 – Workshop Resources
  • Digital Promise Educator Micro-credentials
  • Digital Promise Home
  • 7 Lessons Learned From Implementing Micro-credentials