Regulation 4411 – Professional Development Program
The District supports professional development of its certified staff through the maintenance of a
professional development committee as well as assistance programs for new teachers and
resource programs for experienced teachers.
Professional Development Committee
The purpose of the committee is to identify instructional concerns and remedies; assist beginning
teachers with the implementation of their professional development plan; serve as consultant at a
personal teacher’s request; arrange training programs for mentors; assess faculty needs; develop
in-service opportunities for school staff; and provide District administration with suggestions,
ideas and recommendations concerning instruction.
Committee Composition
Eligibility to serve on the committee will be restricted to certified employees with a minimum of
five years of teaching and /or administrative experience. Members selected will serve for a
staggered three (3) year term with one of the committee selected each of three years. New
members will be selected by classroom teachers, librarians and counselors. New members will
be selected on or by April 30 of the year preceding the member’s term. Teaching will be
completed by June 30 and membership will commence on July 1 of the new school year. Efforts
will be made to insure that each attendance center is represented on the committee and that a
cross-section of grade levels and disciplines are represented. Administrators may be selected to
serve on the committee but will not participate in the selection process.
New Teacher Assistance Program
Each inexperienced teacher employed by the District will be assigned a mentor by the building
principal. Mentors will be required to possess at least five (5) years of teaching experience and
have received or be willing to complete mentor training. Mentors will work closely with their
assigned new teachers during the teachers’ first two (2) years upon request or at the direction of
the building principal during the mentoring period.
New teachers, with the assistance of their mentors, will prepare professional development plans.
The plans will be consistent with the evaluation criteria and will establish plans of development
for the teachers’ first two (2) years of teaching.
Local Business Externships for Professional Development
Local business externship means an experience in which a teacher supervised by the District
gains practical experience in a business, located within the District, through observations and
interactions with employers and employees who are working on issues related to subjects taught
by the teacher. Any hours spent in a local business externship will count as contact hours for
professional development.
Local Business Externships for Credit
Teacher externships are practical experiences in which a teacher, supervised by the District, gains experience at a business located in Missouri through observation and interaction with employers and employees. Requirements for teacher externships to be considered the equivalent to graduate level credit hours for salary schedule purposes will be developed by the Department of Economic Development and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education by July 1, 2020. Teachers who satisfied their state graduate credit equivalences will receive appropriate credit on the District’s salary schedule. Unless reauthorized by the General Assembly, the teacher externship program will expire on September 2024