Professional development

QAS teachers meet regularly for Professional Development (PD) and Common Planning Time (CPT). This is an effective tool used to design the curricular needs of our students and teachers. Teachers meet every Tuesday for a 40 minute session dedicated to PD/CPT.

PD/CTP demonstrating instructional methodologies for improving pedagogy.
PD/CTP analyzing and interpreting assessments to evaluate progress and discuss means of improvement.
Department Instructional Meetings
In-class observation
Seminars – teachers actively discuss a topic
Workshops – department heads and educators come together to discuss and solve problems
Self-Study
Modeling and coaching – providing one-on-one modeling and coaching for teachers
QAS also holds quarterly PLC Meetings (Professional Learning Community) to discover/discuss curriculum achievement gaps, resources etc.

The Teachers who have completed the Juniorate also participate in an annual 4-week summer program for teachers’ continued education. Summer classes include seminar training for any new software or hardware that is being introduced for the following school year. Several collaborative meetings are scheduled to allow teachers to share their teaching tools and techniques with other teachers. All of this improves the instructional approaches in the classroom.

At least three times per year, QAS teachers and leadership team members participate in various professional development opportunities including:
Yearly conference for Zoomtopia
Yearly conference and expo for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
Annual virtual convention for the International Convention for English Teachers (ICTE)
Yearly summit for the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM)

As a result, teachers are able to use technological tools effectively in the classes. Through the implementation of these programs the teachers are able to make the virtual classrooms mirror the campus classrooms, and overcome the many barriers that present themselves in normal distance-learning scenarios.

The effect of the professional development on student achievement is measured by the analyses of the ERB test results; the academy’s various test scores – weekly and quarterly tests scores and the final exam scores; and the RCM test scores and promotions.