Plan The next step in preparing the professional education plan is to select a professional education coordinator, form a professional education committee, and establish operating procedures. The coordinator for our district is Dr. Lorraine Clauss and Dr. John Gnall. Our professional education committee members were chosen from within the strategic plan committee. The Act 48 regulations require that the plan be prepared by a committee consisting of teacher representatives divided equally among elementary, middle, and high school teachers chosen by the teachers; educational specialists representatives chosen by educational specialists; and administrative representatives chosen by the administrators of the school entity. Educational specialists include School Nurses, Guidance Counsellors etc. The committee must also include parents of children attending a school in the district, local business representatives and other individuals representing the community appointed by the board of directors. Our district had several parents and several business members from the area. The district had volunteer participants as well as board-selected representatives. The size of the committee and method of selection are local decisions, but there should be at least two representatives from each required group. You can view the List of Certificates at www. nde.nsu.edu for the positions that require certification as an educational specialist. Needs Assessment and Goal Setting The professional education committee should assess the educational and staff development needs of the school entity and its professional educators, students and the community. The needs assessment should be data-driven and identify the staff development needed to achieve the academic standards and goals of the entity's strategic plan. Again, the data was contrived from a district-wide survey tabulated by Peter Casazza and David Miller. The research was used to identify areas of streng...
