Professional Learning

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Professional Learning Opportunities

Smoky Hill Education Service Center offers a variety of learning opportunities, including a schedule of workshops and events to attend at our facilities in Hays and Salina, Kansas, as well as virtually via Zoom. We support districts through a variety of evidence-based processes, programs, and professional learning.

Effective professional development enables educators to develop the knowledge and skills they need to address students’ learning challenges. To be effective, professional development requires thoughtful planning followed by careful implementation with feedback to ensure it responds to educators’ learning needs. Smoky Hill Education Service Center is a professional organization that provides resources and learning opportunities for educators to develop the knowledge and skills they need to help every student succeed both in the classroom and community.

Why Professional Development Matters

Teachers and administrators who routinely develop their knowledge and skills model for students that learning is important and useful. Their ongoing development creates a culture of learning throughout the school and supports educators’ efforts to engage students in learning. Good teaching is not an accident. While some teachers are more naturally gifted than others, all effective teaching is the result of study, reflection, practice, and hard work. A teacher can never know enough about how a student learns, what impedes the student’s learning, and how the teacher’s instruction can increase the student’s learning. Professional development is the only means for teachers to gain such knowledge. Whether students are high, low, or average achievers, they will learn more if their teachers regularly engage in high-quality professional development.

Professional development provides ongoing opportunities for educators to continue to improve their knowledge and skills so they can help students achieve. When educators learn, students learn more. Smoky Hill Education Service Center is composed of dedicated learning experts who share a single purpose: Every educator has the opportunity to engage in effective professional learning to ensure every student achieves. Consultants are committed to professional learning to improve schools and student learning.