The Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough professional learning is designed to develop educators’ knowledge and understanding, sustain growth, and lead to refinements in practice. This is a collaborative and iterative process that expands educators’ capacity to improve student learning.  The District’s professional learning culture is built on a foundation of trust, mutual interdependence, an active role by all educators, and a shared belief that improved student learning must remain the ongoing goal of all professional learning.

 
The following are tenants of the District’s professional learning experiences:

• Experiences that are ongoing and situated within the educator’s practice, rather than “one‐shot” or “one and done” experiences that may or may not connect to practice (except in limited circumstances)
• Continuous cycles of doing, reflecting/discussing, and refinement
• Feedback loops from colleagues, coaches, and/or supervisors to assist the educator in reflecting on practice and determining any changes that may be necessary
• Data supports the ongoing improvement of teaching and learning
• External research and access to experts helps support the development of educators' instructional practice and content knowledge
• Learning about content, balanced with learning about pedagogy
  
  

The individual educator, each school, and District share responsibility for sustaining professional learning by planning and implementing a coherent system that attends to the accomplishment of individual, school, and District goals.