Professional Development

Be a lifelong learner at Belmont Day.

Professional development opportunities for Belmont Day employees are available both on campus and off-site. The common expectation for professional development is that every adult in the community continues to be a learner. Teachers study content, pedagogy, and values. Many of our faculty belong to professional organizations and read professional journals. Staff members, like those in the business office, attend conferences about new regulations and practices. In addition to working with consultants about our technology infrastructure, much of the professional development for members of the technology department is geared towards engaging with the latest trends in educational technology. The school sends attendees to national conferences and to visit local schools.

Teachers and non-teaching faculty are eager to engage in the rich array of opportunities that are available. Faculty have attended content workshops hosted by the International Society for Technology in Education (​ISTE), Teach21, Facing History and Ourselves, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), to name a few. They have also attended seminars and workshops related to ethical values, gender equity, sustainability, service learning, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and character education. Our faculty has been significantly involved in independent school-related workshops run by NAIS and AISNE. 

The school also funds opportunities for collaborative exploration and program development among BDS colleagues:

• The Pioneer Program is a way for faculty to spearhead a technology or innovation initiative.
• The Inspire Summer Curriculum Development Stipend subsidizes work dedicated to new and forward-thinking programmatic design with colleagues.
• The Lenesa Leana Endowment for Innovative and Collaborative Education supports a new project, program, or learning opportunity that will have a direct impact on our students to extend their understanding of the world. 

Faculty receive a complimentary subscription to the weekly Marshall Memo and have regular access to professional publications such as Independent School magazine. Faculty visits to museums are reimbursed through professional development funds.

Administrators and faculty members regularly post and share professional development offerings and encourage all constituents to participate.

Professional development opportunities for Belmont Day faculty and staff members include:

– Accreditation team participation with AISNE
– Analyzing assessments, including any standardized test scores
– Class walkthroughs/focused observations
– Specialist coaching in reading or mathematics
– Collaborative analysis of student work
– Conferences or workshops, one-day or multiple days
– Consultants, full-day or faculty meetings; short-term or sustained
– Faculty sharing highlights of workshops and content
– Graduate work
– In-school field trips: visits to colleagues’ classrooms and collegial connections across disciplines
– Leadership in professional organizations
– Mentoring associate teachers
– Online professional development, including webinars
– Portfolios
– Presentations at workshops, conferences
– Subscriptions to professional journals
– Summer curriculum development
– Summer study, graduate or independent
– Summer workshops
– Visiting other schools
– Writing an article published internally or externally