Aligning Professional Learning to Individual and District Goals

Challenges Faced

Previously, managing professional development across these independent districts was far from efficient. Each school often used separate Google forms and spreadsheets to track learning opportunities — a cumbersome process. There was also the challenge of providing meaningful development opportunities for teachers, many of whom lack colleagues in the same building in their subject areas or grade levels, limiting opportunities for collaboration.

Christine shared, “We chose Frontline because it gave us this potential to share the professional learning opportunities that we might have going across each school. It allowed us to set up a system where we could protect each district being its own yet have access across those boundaries in an online environment.”

Choosing Frontline Professional Growth

Christine and the school-based professional development committees decided to implement Frontline Professional Growth due to Christine’s familiarity with the platform and its proven track record. “I had worked with Frontline in prior districts. We discussed this with all of our different school-based professional development committees, which are made up of teachers. Many of our teachers who might have come into our district from other districts had been using it as well,” Christine said.

Efficiency was another key factor in choosing Frontline. “We wanted to be more efficient in managing the logistics of professional learning. A lot of what we were using up until now was the traditional Google approach, where principals develop all these Google forms and surveys, and then it falls on the principals to manage it. It gets clunky,” Christine explained.

The districts implemented Frontline Professional Growth across Grantham, Cornish, and Plainfield to streamline their professional learning processes. Key features that have been used include shared professional learning opportunities across districts, efficient tracking and reporting, and customization to meet the unique needs of each district.

Results and Impact

The impact of using Frontline Professional Growth has been evident not only in the ease of managing professional development but also in its alignment with educational goals. “I love the reporting aspect of it,” Christine said. “Sometimes it’s really hard when you have to go to a local school board and request funding for professional learning, because they don’t always see the tangible side of it. They see the dollars we’re spending on it, but how do they really see professional learning impacting student achievement? Now I am able to pull reports that can say to boards, ‘You set these district goals. Now I can show you how teachers are working towards achieving those district goals.'”

Frontline’s ability to provide both qualitative and quantitative data has also impacted how Christine leads the professional learning strategy. “We know that data-driven decision-making is key. We often do that around the decisions we make for students. But Frontline allowed us to make decisions as well about the professional learning priorities we placed in a school year.”

The efficiency gains have also reduced teachers’ administrative workload, allowing them more time to focus on their students. “The result I saw in prior districts was that things were streamlined and very efficient for staff. They had their entire professional learning portfolio right there, they could see and track what they’d been doing and whether it was meeting their goals,” Christine explained. “You could start to show data of alignment, meaning, ‘How does my individual goal support the bigger school goal? How do those school goals support a bigger system of district goals?’ There was really this connection happening.”

Looking Ahead

Looking ahead, Christine anticipates further improvements as they continue the rollout of Frontline Professional Growth. A significant upcoming milestone is the shared regional professional development day planned for the fall, which Christine is confident will be much smoother to manage than previous efforts. She is looking forward to pointing teachers and staff to the district professional learning catalog in Frontline, rather than manually creating registration and feedback forms.

Christine also foresees that Frontline will help reduce stress and administrative burdens on teachers. “I think people are going to, at the end of trimester one, have a collective sigh of relief: ‘I don’t have to spend hours on end putting together my forms, my reflections, my evidence, because if I’m doing this all in Frontline, it’s managing it for me.'”

Key Takeaways

Frontline Professional Growth has become the single place to go for all things professional learning across Grantham, Cornish, and Plainfield School Districts. Christine described it as, “It’s the one-stop shop for all things professional learning, and by that, I mean it links to providing reporting on outcomes so that you can show the value of why you need professional learning in the district, but it also links to financial systems, how much we’re spending on it.”

By offering a centralized solution for professional learning management, Frontline has helped these districts streamline their processes, demonstrate the value of professional learning to stakeholders, and ultimately align teacher development with district goals.

By simplifying logistics, supporting data-driven decision-making, and providing teachers with the tools to manage their learning efficiently, the platform is paving the way for better educator growth and, ultimately, student success. For Christine, that is what is most important: “Any time we can make something efficient for our educators, we put them in a better place to feel more equipped to work well with children.”