Is LEAP Really Making a Leap in D.C.'s Education Policies?
The District of Columbia Public Schools system has created several Professional Development models in the past that were unsuccessful. In fact, millions of dollars were invested into Professional Development, but the outcomes were less than satisfactory. LEAP, which stands for “LEarning together to Advance our Practice,” plans on changing that.
Created by Antwan Wilson (Chancellor of DC Public Schools), LEAP was created to “help teachers become truly expert at teaching the DCPS Common Core-aligned curriculum--so that every student across the city experiences rich, engaging, and challenging instruction every day.”
Essentially, LEAP’s purpose is increase teachers’ expertise in their field and ensure that they have the proper skills to teach their students. With more prepared teachers, all students will be able to get the most out of their education and hopefully learn more efficiently.
What is the format?
The LEAP training cycles run for 6-8 weeks. LEAP is broken down into weekly cycles, and each weekly cycle has three parts. The first part is the 90-minute seminar, in which teachers are fully versed in the Common Core content relevant to their practice area. The second part is the Observation, which is 15 minutes. The observation gives teachers the opportunity to present what they have learned from the seminar. The third part is the “5P” Debrief. During this part, teachers receive feedback including praise, criticism, what specific skill should be focused on for the next week, creating a lesson plan that focuses on that one skill, and then practicing that skill with their LEAP Leader.
What are the proposed outcomes?
The DCPS claims that LEAP is more efficient and useful than other Professional Development models executed in the past. Specifically, LEAP proposes to provide these 7 outcomes:
A focus on teamwork: LEAP has found that Professional Development and Learning works best when working in teams is encouraged.
Highlight practice: Teachers are encouraged to practice teaching their lessons.
An adult curriculum aligned with the Common Core: DCPS created an adult-aligned Common
Core curriculum to help the LEAP Leaders.
The right LEAP Leaders: There are extensive screening and training opportunities in order for
applicants to be considered for the role of a LEAP Leader.
Investing in training: Teachers will be trained throughout the summer and the school year to
ensure they are implementing the curriculum for Professional Development.
Implementing and executing ideas: Ideas will be implemented and executed by certain teams
under LEAP in order to ensure that schools and students have the tools necessary to be successful.
Continuous research: In order to know what works and what needs improvement, researchers from Stanford University and the University of Virginia will monitor the program’s progress.
Possible issues with LEAP
Test scores will be used to help evaluate teachers, although this evaluation method was obsolete for a few years.
Were all teachers given the option to choose whether to vote for or against this Professional Development method?
Teachers have had to change their methods frequently, so many teachers may feel overwhelmed by yet another change.
Were teachers (across the city) given the opportunity to provide input into what they believe are the issues in the classroom?
Although the focus is on the skills of the teachers, will that be enough to bridge the achievement gap between students of different races and socioeconomic backgrounds?
In theory, LEAP sounds like a good idea. It provides teachers with an opportunity to improve their skills and knowledge needed in order to efficiently teach the Common Core curriculum to their students. Of course LEAP wants to provide equal, quality teaching for all students across the city, but could implementing this new Professional Development process be inadvertently blaming teachers for the achievement gap?
