After two years of using a web-based library of professional development resources, Loudoun County, Virginia schools have seen notable improvements in English and math scores for both ESL and economically disadvantaged students.
English achievement among economically disadvantaged students improved 15 percentage points, from the 68th percentile to the 81st percentile. Among ESL students, scores improved by 18 percentage points, from the 61st percentile to the 79th percentile.
Math achievement among economically disadvantaged students improved by 11 percentage points, from the 64th percentile to the 75th percentile, while ESL improvement was also 11 percentage points, from the 65th percentile to the 76th percentile.
“Across the board, our results have been nothing less than extraordinary,” says Loudoun County Schools Director of Instructional Services Preston Coppels. “We attribute 80% of these gains to our use of PD 360 in delivering educational equity.” Coppels added that for "first-hand equity insight," he recommends joining the PD 360 equity community.
PD 360 is an on-demand professional learning resource for schools and districts, offering hundreds of indexed and searchable video segments that present real, best-practice classroom examples and feature education experts, such as Michael Fullan, Rick DuFour, Doug Reeves, Rick Stiggins, and others.
“For far too long, race, ethnicity, economic, and language background has determined who succeeds and who does not in American public schools,” said School Improvement Network Vice President Curtis Linton. "This does not need to be. When a school system embraces equity, all students can achieve at high levels, no matter who they are and where they come from, and Loudoun County, VA, proves that this is indeed a reality.”
