Professional Development Training

College of Education

The mission of the College of Education at Virginia State University is to promote quality programs, using current research and technology-based learning to prepare effective reflective practitioners who are competent, caring and culturally responsive.

Reflective Practitioners analyzes the emotions, experiences, and actions of others to create an unbiased learning environment and serve as advocates for educational justice for all. College of Education Graduates are:

• Competent – understanding the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of their content area(s) to create engaging and meaningful learning experiences for all.

• Caring – displaying kindness, concern, and respect to all learners, while empowering learners to set achievable goals.

• Culturally-Responsive – using research-based, student-centered methodology that is socially, emotionally and culturally relevant to understanding identity, achievement, equity and developmentally appropriate strategies.

In the Department of Teaching and Learning we offer an array of professional development opportunities for educators. They are listed below.

Culturally-Responsive Professional Development – using research-based, student-centered methodology with culturally relevant performance assessments to promote student learning and high achievement.

Classroom Management:

Innovative Pedagogy:

Online Learning:

Leadership:

Curriculum Writing:

Mission of the Department

The mission of the Psychology Department is to teach students to adopt a scientific approach in their acquisition of knowledge in the major areas of psychology and to prepare them for graduate study and service in culturally diverse communities. The Department seeks to achieve these goals through the following objectives:

1. Providing fundamental training in the science of psychology, thus preparing psychology majors for advanced study in the field

2. Contributing to the general education of all students by providing an understanding of the scientific approach to the study of human behavior

3. Offering instruction in the principles and applications of psychology for other departments that require psychology in the programs of their majors.

In the Psychology Department we offer an array of professional development opportunities for. They are listed below.

SIAP – Southern Initiative Algebra Project: The Southern Initiative Algebra Project provides intensive professional development for teachers to ensure that their practice and content knowledge enable every child to succeed in mathematics and related content areas. Teachers participate yearly for 3-5 years in a hands-on, two-week summer institute grounded in the Algebra Project pedagogy and common core standards, followed by a series of academic-year institutes, content workshops, and classroom visits. Teachers who emerge as potential teacher leaders (Implementation Specialists) receive an additional week-long training and internship with SIAP trainers to support other teachers in their practice during the course of the year and to sustain the work beyond SIAP's on-site involvement.

The Algebra Project Mathematics Content and Pedagogy Initiative (APMCPI) program provides professional development for teachers in the surrounding school districts. The goals of the project are to scale up and study key features of the design of the AP PD Model; To increase skills of teachers in innovative mathematics pedagogy and content knowledge; To increase the sense of teaching efficacy in participating teachers; To decrease levels of teacher stress and burnout; To demonstrate a sustained increase in state-mandated mathematics test performance in participating schools during the four-year project period. Some of the major components of the model have resulted in highly effective teachers in the classroom include with mathematical knowledge and implementation of experientially and conceptually-based curriculum.

PVEST:

M-Squared: