Discover how a small, rural school district in Wyoming has been able to provide high-quality professional development to each of its seven schools through PD 360. Fremont County has been able to provide training and preparation for the Common Core State Standards through Common Core 360.

1. Case Study
Small, Rural Wyoming District
Supports Student Readiness with
Online Teacher Development
FREMONT COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT #1,
WYOMING
SOLUTIONS
“PD 360 is a low-cost approach As the FCSD1 director of professional development, the
to providing a large variety of principal of Pathfinder High School, and the principal of
professional development resources Jeffrey City Elementary School, Dr. Kathy Hitt confidently
such as outstanding experts, and competently balances many responsibilities. She is
a focused go-getter who cares deeply about student
current topics, real classroom
success and identifies PD 360 as a good addition to an
examples, LiveBooks, and webinars. already strong PD program by addressing focuses with
It is an additional way to supply the following:
development that builds the best teachers for
each classroom.” • ommon Core 360 is education’s most relevant learning
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tool for new state standards. The ever-growing library
Dr. Kathy Hitt has almost 300 training videos, including 70 in-class
Director of Professional Development/Pathfinder examples of teachers actively using the Common
H.S. Principal/Jeffrey City E.S. Principal Core Standards.
Fremont County School District #1, Wyoming
“Districts around the country are scrambling to roll
out Common Core Standards and PD 360 is a huge
PROFILE support for managing the implementation. The
examples of real classrooms are especially helpful
A small, rural district of 1,700 students in seven schools,
Fremont County School District #1 (FCSD1) is located and show what good instruction looks like.”
in west-central Wyoming along the eastern slope of the
spectacular Wind River Mountains. Being a small district Dr. Kathy Hitt
does not prevent them from providing high-quality Director of Professional Development/Pathfinder
education that starts with comprehensive H.S. Principal/Jeffrey City E.S. Principal
teacher professional development (PD). Fremont County School District #1, Wyoming
• lassroom equity and achievement is addressed in PD
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FOCUSES 360 programs such as Equity and Innovation or Practical
Equity Walkthroughs.
Like all school systems, FCSD1 is challenged to improve
teacher effectiveness to better ready students for college • D 360 is bringing student engagement to the forefront
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and career. The district’s top PD focuses for meeting the of the classroom with programs such as Practical
goal are as follows: Student-Centered Learning or Working on the Work.
• Common Core Standards Implementation • D 360 programs like Working with Students from a
P
Culture of Poverty support teachers in understanding
• Classroom Equity and Achievement and accepting the learning differences and needs of
children coming from poverty.
• Student Engagement
• Teaching Children of Poverty
• Teaching Children of Poverty

2. ABOUT PD 360 of each teacher are recommended, providing easy and
effective follow-up.
PD 360 is the multi-award winning, online, on-demand
professional learning resource within School Improvement • Teachers Who Struggle
Network’s Educator Effectiveness System. With 2,000+ Teachers who struggle are directed by their principals to
videos on 125 topics from 120 experts, PD 360 has the specific PD 360 programs that show how best practices
largest online community of nearly one million educators. look in needed areas such as classroom management,
It is the most comprehensive web-based library of differentiated instruction, and many more. Each teacher’s
professional development resources available. Teachers, usage is tracked to follow growth, as are answers to
administrators, professional learning communities, coaches, reflection and follow-up questions.
mentors, instructional leaders, and paraprofessionals
have available at their fingertips hundreds of indexed and • Compliance Series
searchable video segments that present real, best-practice At the start of each year, principals are required to show
classroom examples and feature respected education the PD 360 Compliance Series to teachers. These include
experts, such as Michael Fullan, Rick DuFour, Doug Reeves, segments on blood borne pathogens and harassment.
Rick Stiggins, and many others. Educators can instantly
find the help they need on nearly every topic, including
differentiation, assessment, English language learners, BENEFITS
leadership, and more. It can be used to create a structured
learning experience for an individual teacher, a PLC, or PD 360 has earned a respected place in FCSD1 as educators
even an entire school. PD 360 and all the tools within benefit from its many advantages.
School Improvement Network’s Educator Effectiveness
System bridge the gap between training and classroom • Capacity/Accessibility
implementation with job-embedded follow-up, tracking, and Dr. Hitt is pleased that educators are able to view PD 360
reflection tools. See a demonstration at www.pd360.com. programs as many times as they wish and as often as they
need. Teachers are conveniently taking charge of their
own professional learning by logging on at home as well
IMPLEMENTATION AND DRIVING USAGE as at work.
FCSD1 encourages PD 360 usage with a variety • Affordable Prominent Experts
of methods:. PD 360 is providing FCSD1 teachers with easy access
to over 120 well-known, quality experts who impart
• Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) information without talking down. Rather than paying
PLCs are incorporating PD 360 as a study resource and
the high costs associated with conferences, the resource
conversation starter. The groups determine a topic, watch is proving to be money-wise.
a video segment, either separately before the meeting or
together during the meeting, and discuss as a group how • Differentiated Professional Development
to apply the practices in their classrooms. Dr. Hitt wanted an online source that would meet a wide
range of needs and abilities. PD 360 is not a one-time
• Professional Development Plans event, such as a conference or workshop, but an ongoing
As part of the evaluation process and with the principal’s
growth process for teachers.
input, every teacher develops a yearly Professional
Development Plan. It includes areas of strength and • Large Library of Content and Relevant Topics
weakness, progress of objectives set forth in the previous CSD1 teachers immediately find what they need in PD
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plan, pupil assessments, and growth toward program 360’s 2,000+ fully indexed video programs that address
objectives. The use of PD 360 videos in needed areas are education’s most pertinent topics with easy search
part of each action plan. ability. Current programs with up-to-date information are
continually being added.
• Observations/Evaluations
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CSD1 teachers are evaluated yearly and classroom • Rising Proficiency Scores
observations are key to identifying areas of need. All F
CSD1 successfully introduced PD 360 as an integral part
teachers receive five observations with verbal and/ of its PD program and teachers are responding positively,
or written feedback from the administrator after each students are winning, and district proficiency scores have
observation. PD 360 segment links relevant to the needs
www.schoolimprovement.com | www.pd360.com | 800-572-1153 2

3. been rising. The 2012 PAWS reading and math proficiency CONCLUSION
scores for many grades in the district were the highest
yet recorded. As a highly motivated educator in a highly motivated
district, Dr. Hitt is pleased to have PD 360 creating positive
teacher growth to improve student readiness for college
Fremont County School District #1, Wyoming
and career.
11th Grade PAWS Proficient and Advanced
2008-09 2010-11 2011-12 “For staff to find value in a professional development
resource, the source must first be valued by district
District State District State District State
and school leaders. Our administrators are finding
MATH 55.47% 62.39% 74.19% 64.19% 70.09% 66.19% relevance in PD 360 and passing that on to
READING 65.22% 65.19% 78.23% 72.84% 85.47% 76.53% our teachers.”
Dr. Kathy Hitt
Director of Professional Development/Pathfinder
High School Principal/Jeffrey City Elementary School
• Educator Enthusiasm Principal Fremont County School District #1, Wyoming
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s shown by their high-usage numbers, FCSD1
administrators and teachers have found worth in the
PD 360 programs and have consistently increased their ABOUT SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
individual use.
Founded in 1991 by teachers, School Improvement Network
has spent decades researching and documenting the
Fremont County SD #1, Wyoming
best practices in education. From this research, School
May 2011 - Nov 2012 PD 360 Usage
Improvement Network has developed the Educator
Registered Users 233
Effectiveness System. The Educator Effectiveness System
outlines a step-by-step process to improve teacher
Collective Programs Viewed 940 practice, and arms educators with a set of powerful
tools that can be used to complete each step. Research
Collective Segments Viewed 3,198
shows that districts and schools that use the tools in the
Collective Minutes Viewed 17,792 Educator Effectiveness System produce better teachers,
and as a result experience dramatic increases in student
achievement, driving up student test scores by as much as
30% in a single year. School Improvement Network works
with thousands of schools and districts in every state and
A 2011 independent study of PD 360 usage showed that around the world and has visited over 3,500 classrooms
higher minutes per user in schools like those in FCSD1 to document best practices in action. Learn more at www.
resulted in more than twelve times the gains in math schoolimprovement.com.
proficiency rates and twice the gains in reading proficiency
rates than district averages.
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