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Critical to the efforts of NAfET is the work of the professional development advisors in our partner schools. The work of NAfET advisors centers on developing and facilitating meaningful professional development opportunities in schools and among individual teachers in the classroom. The advisors’ activities emphasize student-centered teaching and learning. Advisors collaborate with school leaders to identify, develop and implement coherent, needs-based professional development plans for their schools that are aligned with NAfET’s four priorities. The advisors also devote a significant portion of their time to design, plan, and facilitate inquiry-based instruction and learning related professional development activities in the schools. In addition, they work with individual teachers and teacher teams in and out of the classroom assisting them to strengthen their instructional capacity.
The primary objective of NAfET’s research agenda is to provide thorough and timely information to NAfET leadership and staff, partner schools, school, regional and state education based educators and potential funders. This information focuses on the organization’s progress towards its stated goal of significantly expanding partner schools’ administrative and teaching staff’s instructional, pedagogical, and leadership capacity. Ultimately, the research will be useful to make thoughtful and substantive policy recommendations concerning the sustainability of small high schools.
NAfET’s four-pronged professional development model consists of a continuum of professional development activities that support capacity building in partner schools. They include: NAfET-wide professional development activities; an intensive summer immersion program; on-going school-based support for leadership and instructional staff; and face-to-face and online practitioner forums through NAfET’s online community NAfETNET.
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How We Work