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Professional Learning

High-quality professional learning is an integral part of a comprehensive talent management system that develops, supports, and grows educators throughout their careers.

In Rhode Island, we believe that high-quality professional learning (HQPL) consists of coherent learning experiences that are relevant, purposeful, systematic, and structured over a sustained period of time with the goal of improving and building upon educators' practices and student outcomes. HQPL enables educators to impact student learning and well-being through the acquisition and application of knowledge, skills, and abilities that address the whole child. HQPL conforms to best practices in research and relates directly to the educator's professional context through which the learning is applied.

*Update* RIDE Announces Free Professional Learning for Educators

RIDE is committed to helping our schools and educators strengthen their practices through professional learning. As such, RIDE has updated its list of no-cost professional learning options to support the selection of a variety of synchronous and asynchronous professional learning sessions available for the upcoming state-wide Professional Development Day this Spring.  We hope these offerings can enhance opportunities for educators, administrators, and staff to engage in professional learning in a variety of areas, including health & wellness, instructional practices, social-emotional learning, and more. We encourage LEAs and educators to revisit this list frequently for continued updates and to share this list with other educators.  

We encourage users to revisit this list year-round for the latest information on professional learning offerings. And in order to determine whether or not an offering is suitable, given an individual’s role and/or position, we advise LEAs to share accordingly with their relevant personnel.

Please email PL@ride.ri.gov for any professional learning questions or concerns.

Professional Learning Plans (PL Plans)


RIDE has finalized two Professional Learning Plan (PL Plan) templates and samples to support LEAs in meeting part of the certification regulation requirements beginning in the 2019-20 school year. Knowing that some LEAs have already done this work and some are just beginning, RIDE has provided two different templates. Please know that LEAs are not required to use either of these templates.

The two PL Plan template options are intentionally designed to meet the needs of LEAs in the following ways:

The Existing Plan Template is designed for those LEAs who currently have a stand-alone professional learning plan or already have the necessary regulatory components contained within their district strategic plan. The document is structured to support LEA teams, comprised of educators and district leaders, to cross-walk the LEA’s professional learning plan against the certification regulations to ensure full alignment.

The Comprehensive Plan Template is designed for those LEAs who do not currently have a professional learning plan, either stand-alone or as part of their district strategic plan. Using additional prompts to support LEA teams in the development process, this document is divided into sections that will help codify the existing professional learning structures and offerings within the LEA, and highlight areas that require additional development to ensure full alignment to the certification regulation requirements.

For questions regarding professional learning, email pl@ride.ri.gov.

Educator Course Network (ECN)

Educators deserve access to high-quality learning experiences that are relevant, differentiated, purposeful, and sustained in order to improve and build upon their practice throughout their careers. The ECN is the lever to create such access.

The Educator Course Network is one component of RIDE's strategic effort to support the improvement of professional learning experiences in Rhode Island schools and districts. RIDE believes that locally designed and facilitated professional learning should be the first option for meeting the needs of educators. Though we recognize that there are times when expertise and additional capacity from third-party vendors is appropriate to augment local initiatives. So, it is through this online platform that we hope RI schools and districts will become informed consumers of professional learning to look for new ways to engage educators in the learning opportunities that most closely meet collective and individual needs.

For general questions related to professional learning, please email PL@ride.ri.gov.

*Update* Educator Course Network (ECN) 2021 Application

Alongside the launch of the newly expanded Educator Course Network (ECN), RIDE is excited to invite new providers to apply to be listed on the ECN in the spring of 2021.  
 
With a current listing of over 50 partners on the ECN, this application process will continue to support the development of the ECN as a statewide professional learning marketplace that aligns with key aspects of the Rhode Island Professional Learning Standards and other priority initiatives such as the implementation of high-quality curriculum materials. 
  

All interested professional learning providers that are not currently listed on the ECN should complete and submit the ECN application form.  Applications are due by March 19, 2021. 

Providers currently listed on the ECN that wish to expand their offerings and update their profile information should refer to specific instructions listed on the ECN site. We expect to notify newly selected partners in early May, while current partners will have profiles updated on an ongoing basis.  

Please direct questions regarding the ECN to pl@ride.ri.gov. 

RI Professional Learning Standards (RIPLS)


RIPLS Document Published with Council Endorsement

RIDE is committed to helping our schools and districts strengthen their professional learning systems and practices. As such, we are excited to share the Rhode Island Professional Learning Standards (RIPLS) document that was endorsed by the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education in October 2018. As you begin to unpack and implement the RIPLS with your local teams, we encourage you to review our supporting resources and to reach out to the RIDE team directly with questions at PL@ride.ri.gov.

RIPLS Tools & Resources


Implementation of the RIPLS is the first and necessary step in achieving the type of foundation needed to impact educator and student outcomes. To this end, the development of high-quality professional learning systems and learning experiences requires a variety of tools and resources to support LEAs throughout the process. The RIDE team, in partnership with stakeholders across RI and national organizations, have developed the following tools to complement the RIPLS document as LEAs continue to develop and refine local professional learning systems.

Please see the SurveyWorks Resource Center to find the most recent SurveyWorks results and resources. SurveyWorks Data is used to better understand the professional learning landscape across Rhode Island schools.

RIPLS Audit Tool

This Audit Tool is a strategically-designed companion document for the RIPLS. Its purpose is to support teams of educators and district leaders in conducting an audit of local professional learning and the systems that contribute to this work. Auditing is one strategy to improve the effectiveness of local professional learning systems and practices. We hope this tool becomes a resource in making professional learning relevant and valuable for all educators so they can more effectively support our students in achieving outstanding outcomes.

RIPLS Audit Tool Use-Case

An important part of developing tools for districts is to understand how they are used. These documented experiences can help other LEAs generate ways to use these tool in different contexts, while providing the RIDE team with opportunities to refine the overall tool. We are grateful for the partnership with Bristol Warren Public School District to develop our first documented use of the Audit Tool. The following use-case provides one example for how a district used the RIPLS Audit Tool to analyze a current professional learning initiative and to inform future refinements for this on-going initiative. This specific case is meant to engage readers in dialogue and to generate ideas for using the Audit Tool in a range of settings.

Professional Learning Initiatives & RIPLS Crosswalks

The RIPLS are grounded in existing research and are aligned with key concepts found in strong examples of professional learning. We have developed crosswalks that map Rhode Island-specific professional learning initiatives to the RIPLS. It is our hope that these crosswalks will help users to understand what the RIPLS could look like in practice.

Induction coaching is a professional learning initiative where an effective educator with the right disposition and skill-set “coaches” a beginning teacher through observation, feedback, and goal-setting. The coach’s purpose is to accelerate beginning teacher effectiveness to increase student achievement by providing high-quality, data-driven, and instruction-focused supports.

For general questions related to professional learning, please email PL@ride.ri.gov.

Content Specific Professional Learning Offerings

All content-specific professional learning offerings can be found on the Instruction, Assessment and Curriculum landing page under the content title located on the menu to the right of the page. 

Related Resources