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Innovation Team & Methodology

Vision Statement

Empower diverse learners* to collaborate in order to develop equitable and inclusive learning environments, which leads to actions that impact student growth and potential.

*A Learner is everyone/anyone

Definition

Professional learning is designed to refine and expand knowledge, skills, attitudes, and practices in order to impact student growth through intentional, continuous, and collaborative engagement.

Beliefs

  • High Expectations: Ambitious goals lead to powerful actions and outcomes.
  • Diversity: Diversity and inclusivity strengthen an organization and improve its decisions and outcomes.
  • Impact: Evaluation and reflection strengthen performance and results.
  • Collaboration: An organization’s culture and climate build shared responsibility for learning that encourages student growth.
  • Shared Leadership/ Expertise: As a cooperative wide community we can solve our most complex problems by tapping internal expertise and knowing when to utilize outside resources.
  • Empowerment: Learners develop personalized plans that are relevant and meaningful to support their continuous improvement.

Professional Learning Standards* 

  • Learning Communities: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students occurs within learning communities committed to continuous improvement, collective responsibility, and goal alignment.
  • Leadership: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students requires skillful leaders who develop capacity, advocate, and create support systems for professional learning.
  • Resources: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students requires prioritizing, monitoring, and coordinating resources for educator learning.
  • Data: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students uses a variety of sources and types of student, educator, and system data to plan, assess, and evaluate professional learning.
  • Learning Designs: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students integrates theories, research, and models of human learning to achieve its intended outcomes.
  • Implementation: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students applies research on change and sustains support for implementation of professional learning for long-term change.
  • Outcomes: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students aligns its outcomes with educator performance and student curriculum standards.

*Adopted from Learning Forward's Standards for Professional Learning

Download the Professional Learning System document

Professional Learning Innovation Team

The TrueNorth Professional Learning Innovation Team is hard at work! Their goal is to create a student-centered cooperative-wide professional learning system. Thank you to these dedicated team members from across the cooperative:

  • Amy Holaday, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, District 35
  • Chimille Dillard, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, District 203
  • Denise Matthews, Director of Student Services, Equity, and Inclusion, District 36
  • Jenny Sterpin, Director of Special Education, District 115
  • Jeff McHugh, Director of Teaching and Learning, District 67
  • Becky Mathison, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, District 31
  • Amy Cohan, District Services Coach, TrueNorth
  • Kristen Ninni, Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Design and Innovation, TrueNorth
  • Lindsay Kiraly, Director of Professional Learning and Coaching, TrueNorth
  • Carol Michels, Director of District Services, TrueNorth
  • Lauren Randazzo, ELS/SLE, TrueNorth
  • Sharon Sheehan, Math Teacher/Instructional Coach, District 225
  • Sami Fahey, Instructional Coach, TrueNorth
  • Tracy Roehrick, Assistant Principal Lake Bluff Elementary School, District 65
  • Lauren Schulman, Director of Student Services, District 30
  • Rachel Pollera, Special Education Teacher, District 30
  • Ivy Sukenik, Principal Sunset Ridge School, District 29
  • Amy Zima, Early Childhood, TrueNorth
  • Tracy Hellner, Parent Facilitator, TrueNorth
  • Vanessa Reakes, Instructional Coach, North Shore District 112
  • Lisa Rand, Teaching Assistant, TrueNorth
  • Erin Karson, Professional Learning Specialist, TrueNorth