The Syracuse City School District is leasing space in the Rockwest Center on West Fayette Street in order to create a professional development center to be opened Jan. 1, 2013.

The school district’s Board of Education approved the five-year lease Monday. The 12,500-square-foot space will cost $110,400 a year and is considered part of the board’s five-year strategic plan to improve the school system, said Tom Ferrara, director of facilities and operations for the school district. The second goal of this plan is to develop, support and retain effective teachers and school leaders, he said.

An increase in teacher development caused the district to build a new professional development center. The old Syracuse Teacher Center, which used to handle most of the teacher training, will be housed in the new Syracuse Professional Development Center, he said.

The teacher center had unusable rooms and terrible parking, making it a less-than-ideal space for a district on a mission to improve. The leased space will include the teacher center, with additional space just for teacher development, Ferrara said.

While searching for a new space for the Syracuse Teacher Center, Ferrara realized finding a replacement for the center wasn’t good enough.

“The more we looked, the more we realized we needed something more,” he said. “You look to other places, and most large, successful districts have teacher development centers.”

Margaret Wilson was the principal of Elmwood Elementary School before it closed in June. Now, she is the newly selected director of teacher development. She said each teacher will now have 50 hours per year of teacher development, so a new space with multiple meeting rooms and wireless connectivity is exactly what the district needed.

“We can train more people, have classrooms filled with teachers with iPads or laptops, and have everyone streaming video,” she said. “That gives us much more flexibility.”

Now with a fully accommodating space, Wilson said there are three big aspects that will be emphasized during teacher development: common core curriculum, data-driven instruction and preparation for APPR, which stands for Annual Professional Performance Review.

Developing a common core curriculum addresses what students will be learning. This involves developing units and making sure students are ready for state assessment tests, which will change in 2014, Wilson said.

Data-driven instruction involves teaching instructors how to assess and use student data to adjust their lesson plans, making sure students’ individual needs are being met. APPR assesses how teachers plan, teach, create a learning environment and problem solve. Only 20 percent of this assessment is based on test scores, Wilson said.

Having a consistent, comfortable space with plenty of parking, Wilson said, will make this process not only more efficient, but easier on the teachers.

Although the Rockwest Center houses many other businesses, the professional development center will have its own entrance. Wilson said she is happy that the center will be centrally located and connected to the community, Syracuse University’s Warehouse and the soon-to-be-completed WCNY-TV/FM building, a broadcast and education center estimated to be completed this October.

Said Wilson: “This connectivity is really exciting for education and for growth.”

Published on September 5, 2012 at 2:18 am

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