| PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Different Approaches Meet Different Needs
It takes both flexibility and creativity to meet mathematics
and science educators’ professional development (PD) needs in a
region as geographically and culturally diverse as the Pacific. Some of
PREL’s initiatives, like developing cadres of local educators to
provide in-service training, are region-wide (see “MENTOR Project”
on p. 17). State-level solutions are addressed through strategic planning,
and onsite PD events are provided in part through school partnership programs.
At every level, the Pacific Mathematics and Science Regional Consortium
staff works with personnel from the entity school system to ensure that
trainings provide effective instruction, are well planned and coordinated,
invite active participation in the learning process, and meet standards
for high-quality PD. Objectives include the following:
- increasing participants’ knowledge
of both the content area and pedagogy;
- developing understanding of students as learners;
and
- encouraging reflection.
The stories that follow show these beliefs and models in action at schools
in Rota (see page 16) in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
(CNMI) and in Yap State (see page 18) in the Federated States of Micronesia
(FSM).
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