Professional Growth Academies From Pearson Debut, Offering Smaller School Districts Practical, Quality Teacher Professional Development

GLENVIEW, Ill., May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Research reveals that effective teachers are the single most important factor in improving student achievement. Yet, many smaller school districts struggle to identify the resources to provide their teachers with high-quality, targeted professional development opportunities.

With today's launch of the Pearson Professional Growth Academies, smaller districts around the country will have access to practical, quality professional development aligned to meet their specific needs. At the foundation of each Academy is 21 weeks of graduate-level, credit-worthy instructional content from accredited universities. The online Academies are facilitated by experienced educators and focus on topics that smaller school districts face, including English Language Learner (ELL) Instruction, Teacher Induction, Elementary Reading and Middle-Level Reading.

With no minimum enrollment, smaller school districts can target their Professional Growth Academies to meet the needs of individual teachers without scheduling an expensive workshop or sending teachers to professional development that requires travel expenses and time away from the classroom. Teachers learn collaboratively with colleagues from their district or across the country in online cohorts.

Each Academy includes an Action Research Project designed to address current district needs and specific instructional challenges that teachers may be facing in the classroom. With eight weeks of support following the Academy, teachers strengthen their strategies for applying what they learned in their classrooms and throughout their school district.

"With our new Professional Growth Academies, we will collaborate with smaller school districts around the country to help them ensure that they offer their teachers the professional development they need to be successful in the classroom and help students achieve at the highest levels," said Keith Dunham, Ph.D., senior vice president and general manager, Professional Growth group of Pearson.

The Teacher Induction Academy helps school districts bridge the gap between new and experienced teachers by building the confidence, credibility and classroom fundamentals that new teachers need to survive and thrive. New teachers will learn classroom management, parent and student communication, organization and assessment strategies that will help them have a successful first year in the classroom. School districts can use the Teacher Induction Academy to help increase their retention rate among new teachers.

The Elementary Reading Academy will help teachers connect proven literacy instruction and assessment strategies to the diverse needs of students in an elementary class. Teachers will learn how to use research-based instructional strategies to build literacy skills and assessment practices for screening and diagnosing student reading challenges. In the Middle-Level Reading Academy, teachers will learn and apply strategies for building student literacy skills across the curriculum.

The ELL Instruction Academy helps teachers build practical knowledge of strategies proven to boost achievement for ELL students, including the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) model, instructional methods and curriculum development, and how to assess student language and content knowledge. Academies on other current issues in education will be launched in the near future.

Cohorts for summer 2008 and the 2008-2009 school year are forming now. School districts can learn more about the Pearson Professional Growth Academies by visiting http://www.pearsonschool.com/academies or calling 800-348-4474, ext. 3118.

About Pearson

Pearson is the global leader in educational publishing, assessment, information and services, helping people of all ages to learn at their own pace, in their own way. For students preK-12, Pearson provides effective and innovative curriculum products in all available media, educational assessment and measurement for students and teachers, student information systems, and teacher professional development and certification programs. The company's respected brands include Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, AGS, PowerSchool, SuccessMaker, TeacherVision and many others. Pearson's comprehensive offerings help inform targeted instruction and intervention so that success is within reach of every student. Pearson's other primary businesses include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.