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Professional Growth System Fosters Continuous Development, Collaborative Support for Educator Effectiveness Will Graves The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) Office of Educator Effectiveness (OEE) encourages and supports effective instruction and leadership in public schools by overseeing the Mississippi Educator and Administrator Professional Growth System (PGS). What makes the PGS unique in its approach to educator professional development is the program’s focus on continuous improvement. Administered at the school district level, the PGS is geared toward improving student outcomes by going beyond the traditional annual performance evaluation many veteran teachers and administrators may be accustomed to. The key word signifying the PGS’s overarching goal is growth. “The PGS is designed to improve stuSchool Focus
dent achievement by providing teachers and administrators with observations and feedback to inform continuous improvement,” said Dr. Courtney Van Cleve, MDE’s state director for educator talent acquisition and effectiveness. As a specially designed professional development system for Mississippi’s public educators and administrators, the PGS fosters a collaborative relationship between the educator or administrator and their mentor observer. The program launched in 2016 and has been refined through four feedback-informed phases. The PGS’s main component is to provide educators with meaningful coaching, actionable feedback and targeted professional learning. This is achieved through evidence-based observations, which help guide constructive feedback that fosters positive professional growth. This component, the heart of the PGS, enables school 30
leaders to assess performance and identify the top priorities for both individual and schoolwide professional learning. Beyond the observation and feedback aspect of the system, Van Cleve said the PGS also utilizes annually submitted data to inform decision-making at the state level. “We support the use of effectiveness data in decision-making statewide, such that we ultimately ensure that every school has effective teachers and leaders, which is outlined in goal number four in our State Board of Education strategic plan,” Van Cleve said. Licensed educators and administrators must receive annual on-the-job performance assessment per the statewide public school accountability standards, so Van Cleve said MDE requires school districts to submit PGS data annually as an indicator of educator and administraFall 2022