Professional Development

Project SEED's professional development is based on recognized best practices in education including modeling and coaching. It incorporates the recommendations of the National Staff Development Council that "the most effective training programs include exploration of theory, demonstrations of practice, supervised trials of new skills with feedback on performance, and coaching within the workplace." In Student Achievement Through Staff Development, Joyce and Showers reported that coaching in the classroom after workshops was 80-90% effective at enabling teachers to use and apply new methods in the classroom. Workshops, alone, were only 5-10% effective.

Project SEED professional development includes a combination of staff development workshops, one-on-one intensive training for selected teachers, and small group seminars throughout the school year.

The workshop setting allows large groups of teachers to focus on Project SEED's teaching techniques and strategies for introducing mathematics. These workshops cover topics including interactive teaching, effective mathematics instruction, and advanced topics in mathematics.

Intensive training consists of daily modeling of Project SEED methodology and advanced mathematics in the classroom. In addition, the classroom teacher teaches discovery lessons with assistance in lesson planning, while the Project SEED math specialist provides observation and feedback. The Project SEED mathematics specialist also is available to the teacher as consultant on curriculum and methodology.

Other teachers in the school are welcome to observe the model lessons and participate with the Project SEED specialists in small group seminars on curriculum and methodology.