Worth County Teachers Flip Roles

On November 2, 2020, Worth County R-III teachers and administrators will take on the role of student learner during their professional development day prepared by the Northwest Regional Professional Development Center (NWRPDC).  “For the past four years we have worked closely with the NWRPDC to develop our teaching staff’s capacity to develop assessment capable learners,” said Dr. Matthew Martz, school superintendent. 

The teachers began this learning process with a study on growth mindsets, a belief that failure is an opportunity to learn something. “Students and adults may not know something “yet”; however, by identifying what you don’t know, you have the opportunity to learn something new,” said Martz.  

Worth County schools joined the Missouri Model District (MMD) Initiative in the 2018-2019 school year. “The MMD initiative, which is now called District Continuous Improvement (DCI) Framework, focuses on using a district-level approach to integrate effective academic and behavioral practice into a framework for improving student outcomes,” said Martz.

Using the DCI framework, the teachers identified priority standards in their curriculum. These standards provide the focus for the teacher and the learner as to what the learner needs to know, or be able to do. Teachers then developed success criteria, so students would have a better understanding of what a successful student would need to do to demonstrate their mastery of these priority standards.

This school year, during their professional development days, teachers and administrators are learning about the importance of giving quality feedback to students. “We have learned that feedback provides an opportunity for the teacher and the student to identify his or her progress toward meeting the standard,” said Tiffany Bliley, high school science teacher. 

So remember when you hear that students have a day off from school, the teaching staff does not. During a professional development day, teachers become learners, so they can become better teachers.