ESFDB teachers attend PSS professional dev’t

Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja’s lay ministry teachers pose with Dr. Clare Camacho, second from left, during one of her professional development trainings at Hopwood Middle School on Saipan. (Contributed Photo)

Eskuelan San Francisco De Borja’s lay ministry teachers took advantage of professional development offerings sponsored by the CNMI Public School System to learn about the issues facing their schools and how to address them.

On Nov. 20, the teachers attended two hours of lecture about Renaissance testing at Saipan World Resort, followed by a whole day of professional development training at Hopwood Middle School.

Renaissance Star Reading and Star Math give teachers intuitive reports and at-a-glance data dashboards that track students’ path to mastery from the beginning to the end of the school year, and from year-to-year.

“The workshop was designed to help our teachers promote student success and high student achievement in their assessment test,” said ESFDB administrator/principal Carmen H. Atalig. “I always believe that professional development is key to address issues at our school and provide innovative ways for our teachers to improve in their classrooms.”

Atalig also talked about research that shows effective teachers are key to student achievement and collaboration between parents and teachers creates a holistic view of student growth and performance.

Mary Rose Lucero, 3rd to 8th grade language arts teacher, said, “We believe in supporting our teachers through ongoing professional development. It’s important to discuss a wide variety of topics and important issues related to our students and their education.”

“I agree with our principal, Mrs. Atalig, that through professional development our teachers can be effective in the classroom,” added Lucero. “I enjoyed our professional development with the Public School System teachers.”

Edward Maratita Jr., who administers Renaissance Star Reading and Math test, said, “Instead of leaving the workshop with a single lesson, I was armed with knowledge and experience in integrating a selection of strategies to a range of assessments throughout the day.”

“The workshop gave me extra guidance to assist our language arts and math teachers set the stage for continuous improvement in important areas of their lessons, and to see which students are meeting benchmarks and who needs intervention,” added Maratita.

The teachers were also engaged in hands-on activities.

Joining Lucero and Maratita at the training were Monette Ladao, Florinda Chavez, and Title I specialist Geraldine Dela Cruz. (ESFDB)