Complete Coverage

Mass. District Strives for Teacher 'Learning System'

Edward M. Davey, right, works with his PLC colleagues, from left, Kathryn Harper, Ramille Romulus, and David Vincent, to devise the best ways to teach students about reading and understanding historical texts.

—Erik Jacobs for Education Week

The Goal for Administrators and Teachers is to Convert Typically Scattershot Teacher Training Into a Coherent, Cohesive Endeavor

By Stephen Sawchuk

Lexington, Mass.

Oreo cookies, a veggie platter, and a lot of caffeinated beverages make up the afternoon reinforcements for the educators gathered in the basement of a converted school here in this leafy Boston suburb.

Over the course of the meeting on this fall day, the 18-member professional-development committee for the Lexington school system will cover a wide swath of topics about the ongoing training—everything from practical concerns about teacher enrollment in a district-sponsored course to philosophical ones about how to improve teachers' ability to modify instruction based on analyses of student work.

Formed in spring 2009 by the district, in partnership with the local teachers' union, the work group has a specific mission: to ensure that the pieces of the district's continuing teacher training are congruent, of high quality, relevant to what teachers are doing in their...