The Educator Development team supports educators from preservice through induction and throughout their careers with access to resources, rich and innovative professional learning opportunities, and a systemwide network of support.
Our mission is to develop, support, and retain effective teachers by
- Collaborating with schools, offices, colleges, and universities to develop systems of support,
- Delivering a COMAR-aligned induction program,
- Contributing to a leadership pipeline of teacher leaders who support their novice peers, and
- Ensuring we are guided by equitable practices in order to improve academic outcomes for students.
Interns
Baltimore County Public Schools partners with local institutions of higher education (IHE) through the Professional Development Schools (PDS) Program. These collaborative partnerships prepare pre-service teachers and other professionals and use a strategic planning process to provide professional learning opportunities for interns, mentor teachers, and IHE faculty. Interns can be placed in schools that are not professional development schools. IHE placement coordinators may contact the Educator Development team directly to request internship placements for prospective candidates.
Aspiring Teachers
Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) is currently experiencing a major teacher shortage, especially a shortage of teachers who are black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), teachers of special education and ESOL, and women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) content areas. The Baltimore County Government has offered the Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public Schools, Inc. (The Foundation) a $1 million dollar grant to support the efforts of the BCPS Department of Human Resources in recruiting, training, and retaining BIPOC teachers and women in STEM fields to teach in BCPS. Please click here to visit their webpage to learn more about the scholarship.
New and Non-Tenured Teachers
The BCPS New Teacher Induction Program provides comprehensive support to newly hired teachers. New educators are invited to participate in New Educator Orientation (NEO) during the month of August. Non-tenured teachers are invited to attend conference style seminars that occur during the duty-day in the fall and spring. Stipends are offered to non-tenured teachers who attend after school workshops designed to address their learning needs throughout the school year.
Consulting Teachers in the Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) Program provide support for new teachers without prior teaching experience throughout the school system. PAR is a nationally recognized program designed to improve teacher quality, increase teacher retention, and ultimately increase student achievement. This program consists of 48 highly-qualified and highly-skilled Consulting Teachers (CTs) who provide ongoing one-on-one support to all teachers who are new to BCPS and do not have prior teaching experience. The PAR Program Mission is to empower teachers to become reflective practitioners who foster a safe and supportive learning environment where all students have equitable access to high-quality, culturally responsive instruction that disrupts dominant narratives and maximizes student achievement.
All Teachers
The Educator Development team organizes workshops, events, courses and programs for professional growth and to earn credits needed for recertification, salary advancement, or additional endorsements.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses are organized by BCPS Offices. CPD courses are free to BCPS employees and retirees, and sessions are offered summer, fall and spring.
Cohort Programs provide permanent employees in active service access to high quality professional growth opportunities in areas of critical need. Cohorts are advertised each spring and programs generally start in the fall. Cohorts include direct billing, which means BCPS is directly billed for tuition costs up to the rate of individual tuition reimbursement. Cohort participants pay only the published out-of-pocket costs for each course.
College and University Programs are available on a wide variety of topics and many offer discounted tuition to BCPS employees. The employee must pay all associated costs. Employees may request tuition reimbursement for which they are eligible by following the process managed by the BCPS Office of Certification.
Workshops on mentoring, coaching, action research, and group facilitation enable teachers to build the skills needed to collaborate and support their peers.
BCPS employees may view and register for workshops and MSDE/CPD courses by accessing the Registration System.
Teacher Leaders
The Educator Development team aims to recognize and support teacher leadership as a means to extend the reach of highly-effective teachers to impact the teaching profession, students, and communities. In order for skilled classroom educators to hone their craft, mentor others, and grow professionally, BCPS must create pathways for teacher leadership and differentiate between the skills and training needed by teacher leaders and those needed by administrators. These programs, resources, and opportunities are meant to establish and maintain a well-defined leadership pipeline of diverse teacher leaders who may serve the system as future leaders in schoolhouses and central offices (Modified from Maryland Department of Education, Office of Professional Learning). Significant supports are available for teacher leaders seeking National Board Certification. Established in 1987, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is an independent, nonprofit organization working to advance accomplished teaching for all students. At the present time, there are over 100,000 teachers nationwide who have achieved National Board Certification. Completion of the process is recognized as a valuable professional development experience and includes an additional stipend. Eligibility criteria selection timeframe and procedures are determined by Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) regulation.
The Educator Development team also manages programs that support a variety of career pathways including:
- Aspiring Assistant Principals
- Aspiring Department Chairs
- Aspiring Consulting Teachers
- Staff Development Teacher
- Teams Coaching
- Leadership Information Sessions
- Highly Skilled Teachers, Leaders, and Staff Summer Professional Learning Series
- Professional Learning Community Support
- Professional Learning opportunities aligned with Research for Better Teaching training
- Teacher Leader University
- Conditional Teacher Summit