Windsor Hosts Premiere Professional Development Event

The Windsor Central School District hosted a PLC at Work Live Institute workshop livestreamed to schools across the country. PLC, or Professional Learning Community, is a process that provides a framework designed to ensure the learning of all students.

Windsor staff and approximately 140 guests from Binghamton University, Broome-Tioga BOCES, Johnson City, Owego-Apalachin, Chenango Valley, Whitney Point, and other Central New York school districts attended the event August 25-27.
“This was an incredible opportunity to continue to build the capacity of our staff to ensure our students are future-ready, and partner with a premiere professional-development organization,” said Windsor CSD superintendent, Dr. Jason Andrews.

Educators rotated between workshops covering topics such as collaboration, building culture, and leveraging best practices in technology.

“We as professional educators have an obligation to commit to the procedures proven to work to ensure every kid succeeds. The question, then, is, ‘What are those policies?’,” said Mike Mattos, educator, author, and consultant who served as a keynote speaker at the event.

According to Mattos, there are five elements that make up those policies:

  • Working in teams.
  • Being clear on what each student must learn.
  • Measuring student learning throughout the year.
  • Assessing data throughout the year not just to identify students who need extra help, but also to assess which practices are and are not working.
  • Systematically respond when students need extra time and support, which is embedded into the school day.
“This is a continuous process. You’re not better at these things overnight. You keep working,” said Mattos.

That is one reason why each Windsor CSD school and the district as a whole have earned the designation of International PLC Model School. The Windsor CSD began its journey as a Professional Learning Community in 2006.
“It’s an ongoing effort. They refer to it as a journey because you’re always trying to get better, improve outcomes for kids, and build a collaborative culture,” said Dr. Jason Andrews, superintendent of the Windsor CSD.

The Windsor CSD is one of only eight districts in the country, and the only one in the Eastern Time Zone, to host such an event this summer.

“We’re honored to be the only district selected as a host site in the Eastern Time Zone,” said Dr. Andrews. “This event is inspiring and engaging.”

“There are some schools that are new to this process, and some that are models,” said Mattos. “Windsor is definitely a model. They’ve been doing continuous work for over a decade, and their teachers have gotten very good at this.”

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