2007 Minnesota Statutes

122A.60 STAFF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.
    Subdivision 1. Staff development committee. A school board must use the revenue
authorized in section 122A.61 for in-service education for programs under section 120B.22,
subdivision 2 , or for staff development plans under this section. The board must establish an
advisory staff development committee to develop the plan, assist site professional development
teams in developing a site plan consistent with the goals of the plan, and evaluate staff
development efforts at the site level. A majority of the advisory committee and the site
professional development team must be teachers representing various grade levels, subject areas,
and special education. The advisory committee must also include nonteaching staff, parents, and
administrators.
    Subd. 1a. Effective staff development activities. (a) Staff development activities must:
(1) focus on the school classroom and research-based strategies that improve student learning;
(2) provide opportunities for teachers to practice and improve their instructional skills over
time;
(3) provide opportunities for teachers to use student data as part of their daily work to
increase student achievement;
(4) enhance teacher content knowledge and instructional skills;
(5) align with state and local academic standards;
(6) provide opportunities to build professional relationships, foster collaboration among
principals and staff who provide instruction, and provide opportunities for teacher-to-teacher
mentoring; and
(7) align with the plan of the district or site for an alternative teacher professional pay system.
Staff development activities may include curriculum development and curriculum training
programs, and activities that provide teachers and other members of site-based teams training
to enhance team performance. The school district also may implement other staff development
activities required by law and activities associated with professional teacher compensation models.
(b) Release time provided for teachers to supervise students on field trips and school
activities, or independent tasks not associated with enhancing the teacher's knowledge and
instructional skills, such as preparing report cards, calculating grades, or organizing classroom
materials, may not be counted as staff development time that is financed with staff development
reserved revenue under section 122A.61.
    Subd. 2. Contents of the plan. The plan must include the staff development outcomes under
subdivision 3, the means to achieve the outcomes, and procedures for evaluating progress at each
school site toward meeting education outcomes.
    Subd. 3. Staff development outcomes. The advisory staff development committee must
adopt a staff development plan for improving student achievement. The plan must be consistent
with education outcomes that the school board determines. The plan must include ongoing
staff development activities that contribute toward continuous improvement in achievement of
the following goals:
(1) improve student achievement of state and local education standards in all areas of the
curriculum by using best practices methods;
(2) effectively meet the needs of a diverse student population, including at-risk children,
children with disabilities, and gifted children, within the regular classroom and other settings;
(3) provide an inclusive curriculum for a racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse student
population that is consistent with the state education diversity rule and the district's education
diversity plan;
(4) improve staff collaboration and develop mentoring and peer coaching programs for
teachers new to the school or district;
(5) effectively teach and model violence prevention policy and curriculum that address early
intervention alternatives, issues of harassment, and teach nonviolent alternatives for conflict
resolution; and
(6) provide teachers and other members of site-based management teams with appropriate
management and financial management skills.
    Subd. 4. Staff development report. (a) By October 15 of each year, the district and site
staff development committees shall write and submit a report of staff development activities and
expenditures for the previous year, in the form and manner determined by the commissioner. The
report, signed by the district superintendent and staff development chair, must include assessment
and evaluation data indicating progress toward district and site staff development goals based on
teaching and learning outcomes, including the percentage of teachers and other staff involved in
instruction who participate in effective staff development activities under subdivision 3.
(b) The report must break down expenditures for:
(1) curriculum development and curriculum training programs; and
(2) staff development training models, workshops, and conferences, and the cost of releasing
teachers or providing substitute teachers for staff development purposes.
The report also must indicate whether the expenditures were incurred at the district level
or the school site level, and whether the school site expenditures were made possible by grants
to school sites that demonstrate exemplary use of allocated staff development revenue. These
expenditures must be reported using the uniform financial and accounting and reporting standards.
(c) The commissioner shall report the staff development progress and expenditure data
to the house of representatives and senate committees having jurisdiction over education by
February 15 each year.
History: 1Sp1985 c 12 art 8 s 23,61; 1987 c 398 art 8 s 27,28; 1Sp1987 c 4 art 1 s 3; 1988 c
486 s 73,74; 1990 c 562 art 4 s 8; 1991 c 265 art 7 s 30-32; 1992 c 499 art 1 s 19; 1992 c 571 art
10 s 4,5; 1993 c 224 art 7 s 24; 1994 c 647 art 7 s 10,11; 1Sp1995 c 3 art 8 s 9; 1996 c 412 art 9 s
11; 1998 c 397 art 8 s 95,96,101; art 11 s 3; 1998 c 398 art 5 s 13; 1999 c 241 art 5 s 3; 1999
c 241 art 9 s 17; 1Sp2005 c 5 art 2 s 44-46