The Professional Development Alliance provides a wide range of services to schools and districts in Will, Grundy, and Kendall counties in Illinois. Services are performed under the auspices of the Will and Grundy/Kendall Regional Offices of Education. Services may be offered to a school free of charge, using a mini-grant, or on a per-contract charge, depending on grant eligibility and the type of service.
Every school faces a unique set of circumstances and has its own set of needs. For some schools, the PDA is a vital partner in the development of the School Improvement Plan and of the school's long-term professional development plan. Other schools may already have those things in place and simply call us for a presenter in a specific field. Other schools will fall somewhere in between, utilizing one of our consultants to address one or more goals within the School Improvement Plan. Whatever the level of services you need, we stand ready to help.
Professional development and support services may take a variety of formats. We work closely with the building principal and other involved staff to determine if the goal can best be accomplished with a one-time training, a series of trainings, one-on-one mentoring, small group coaching, the development of Professional Learning Teams, modeling of instructional and behavioral management strategies, or simple technical assistance.
Whether this is your first time developing a school improvement plan or you are an expert, we can help you to ensure that it is a document that both meets state requirements and that serves as a meaningful roadmap for you and your staff. We can help you during each stage of the process, from data collection to goal setting, to submitting your action plan electronically. Our consultants are experienced in helping schools with both writing the plan, and with monitoring the progress of its implementation throughout the year. We can work with an individual or your SIP committee, meeting at your location or ours. For more information about this service, contact us at (815) 744-8334.
Data analysis for informed decision making and continuous school improvement go hand-in-hand. Using data analysis to put the spotlight on other areas, school operations, and practices can move a school toward greater degrees of data-informed decision making to achieve higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness. Our consultants can facilitate a data retreat that will help you to achieve the "fine grain" level of analysis through a collaborative and highly engaged process. Our consultants can also work on specific projects to provide the data to specific issues that a school may want to investigate. For more information about this service, contact us at (815) 744-8334.
The consultants at the Professional Development Alliance are former teachers, principals, and superintendents who have had great success in those roles and have a desire to share their experience and knowledge with others. We can work with individual administrators or teacher leaders to improve their leadership skills, or we can work with groups of leaders in a school or district. All consultations are held in the strictest confidence and can take place at your location or at our offices in Joliet. Areas of assistance include:
The Professional Development Alliance has developed a talented network of internal and external presenters who are prepared to present a wide range of topics to your teachers and professional staff during Inservice Days. Let us know the area that you want to target and your goals for the day, and we will and we will assist you. For more information, please visit our School-Site Offerings web page.
Schools and districts are welcome to rent one or more of our training rooms or our conference room. Often, schools or districts choose to meet at our location to help the staff involved in the training or work session avoid the distractions that inevitably arise at your own location. Catering services and technology are available. For more information, visit our Room Rentals web page.