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About the Office of Teaching and Learning

The Office of Teaching & Learning combines the functions of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and teacher training in a way that leads to effective implementation of curricular content in our classrooms. The office seeks to create skilled, reflective practitioners by providing learning opportunities for employees to acquire new skills and knowledge. With the collaboration of educational stakeholders, we initiate a system of districtwide strategic professional development that encompasses ongoing, planned, and comprehensive job-embedded experiences.

The following departments are housed within the Office of Teaching and Learning:

• Curriculum Development and Core Curriculum Resources
• Library Services
• Pre-K and Early Childhood
• Student Assessment
• Professional Learning

We endeavor to work with each of our schools to ensure that our scholars are learning and achieving at the highest level each and every day through equitable and individualized support. 

As we work to build the instructional opportunities of growth for our scholars, we have embraced three key instructional priorities for the 2022-23 school year: Acceleration of Learning, Balanced Assessment System, and a Culture of Observation and Feedback. 

We are deepening the implementation of our instructional priorities with four instructional protocols: collaborative lesson planning, collaborative walk-throughs and peer-to-peer observations, examining student work, and instructional role-play.

The Office of Teaching and Learning work is primarily grounded in the MS Accountability Frameworks, Standard 20. All of our work is aligned to the JPS Instructional Management System and the JPS Instructional Framework. 

Professional Learning and Development 

Professional learning and development are needed to ensure that all district-level leaders, school-level leaders, and instructional staff keep abreast of the current best practices to impact instruction significantly. The Professional Development Plan (PDP) encourages and supports certified and classified personnel in their continuous effort to grow professionally. Professional development serves as a bridge that connects where novice and experienced educators are now to where they need to be to meet the new challenges of preparing students for the 21st-century workplace, advancing levels of technology, and increasing accountability for student achievement.

Goals of Professional Development

The goals of implementing the Standards for Professional Learning are to outline the characteristics of professional learning that lead to the following:

• Effective teaching practices.
• Supportive leadership.
• Improved student results.
• Results-driven, high-quality professional development activities.

Our staff is committed to encouraging and supporting certified and classified personnel in their continuous effort to grow professionally. Professional Development serves as a bridge that connects where prospective and experienced educators are now and where they will need to be to meet the challenges of guiding all students to achieve higher standards of learning and development. By directly communicating with the various offices within JPS, the Office of Professional Development can inform schools and administrative offices of available training activities throughout each school year.