No. 200304

Introduction

In 1984 New York State United Teachers successfully lobbied the New York State Legislature to pass Section 316 of the Education Law. For the first time a New York State law established a governing structure that gave teachers control over an important aspect of their professional lives, their professional development. In the ensuing years a network of over 125 teacher centers have provided on-going consistently high quality, cost effective professional development for thousands of educators in our state.

The purpose of this Information Bulletin is to highlight the structure and governance of teacher centers, and to emphasize NYSUT's commitment to teacher centers as an important provider of professional development services. As districts implement new federal and state regulations that impact the professional work of teachers including Professional Development Plans (CR 100.2d), Annual Professional Performance Review (CR 100.2 O), and new mentoring and certification requirements, teacher centers have become more important than ever.

NYSUT celebrates the 20 years of exceptional service to professional development of teachers through the tireless efforts of directors and policy boards across the state.

Guiding Principles

New York State Teacher Centers provide a structure for teachers to take charge of their own professional growth and afford them an opportunity to share with one another the great wealth of expertise they possess. They also promote systemic, on-going, continuous inquiry, reflection and growth for the teachers served by using the following approaches:

• Application of knowledge of current research in professional development;

• Use of a variety of strategies for identifying the professional needs of constituents;

• Aligning of local needs with state initiatives, standards, and assessments;

• Enabling teachers to participate in collaborative activities;

• Addressing teachers' needs at different stages of their careers by providing opportunities for reflection and inquiry;

• Respecting and facilitating the leadership capacities of educators;

• Focusing on both individual and organizational goals;

• Supporting investigation of current issues in curriculum, instruction, assessment and application of technology;

• Building of partnerships with industry, higher education, cultural and community agencies to support the professional needs identified locally; and

• Job embedded, on-site facilitation of new approaches to instruction.

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