Professional development is a critical element in the growth and the development of a school on the whole.

An administrator has two primary responsibilities in the area of professional development.

First, the administrator must work hard on his or her own professional growth and maturity. A good administrator must be committed to life-long learning and be relentlessly self-improving. Advanced college classes, professional writing and attending seminars are a few of the ways administrators may pursue professional development. Only by modeling this important proficiency can an administrator successfully aid his or her faculty in staff in their own growth and development.

Secondly, an administrator must make available and convenient avenues for his or her faculty and staff to grow and develop. Additionally, the administrator must find ways to motivate the faculty and staff to seek and participate in professional development activities on their own as well.

The following archive is a copy of my PDAS certification. I am most proud of the fact that I attained this endorsement long before it was required that I have it. As principal of Assumption Catholic School, I was not required to use PDAS as an evaluation method; however, I believed that the training would make me a better administrator and put me in a position to better serve the teachers and the students of the school. That is why I pursued and financed this evaluation training myself before it was ever required of me.