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Professional Learning

Growing Our Practice. Strengthening Instruction. Empowering Every Learner.

At Merchantville School District, professional learning is grounded in our commitment to high-quality instruction, equitable opportunities, inclusive practices, and continuous improvement. Our professional learning priorities are designed to strengthen teacher practice while ensuring that every student has access to rigorous, meaningful, and supportive learning experiences.

Through collaboration, professional development, data analysis, and reflective practice, we will continue to build instructional capacity and create learning environments where every student can thrive.

Our Professional Learning Priorities

📊 Student Achievement & Data-Informed Instruction

Teachers will examine student achievement and assessment data to make informed instructional decisions that promote academic growth for every student.

Professional learning will support teachers in learning how to:

  • Analyze student achievement data to identify strengths, needs, and instructional gaps.

  • Use data to plan instruction for the whole class, small groups, and individual students.

  • Differentiate instruction based on student readiness, learning needs, and performance.

  • Adjust instruction in response to formative and summative assessment information.

  • Develop targeted instructional strategies to accelerate student growth.

  • Monitor student progress and determine appropriate next instructional steps.

  • Collaborate with colleagues to examine data and develop responsive instructional plans.

Our goal: Use evidence of student learning to ensure that instruction is responsive, targeted, and designed to foster academic growth for every student.

💙 Social-Emotional Learning & Well-Being

We will continue to cultivate an SEL-informed learning environment that provides students and adults with opportunities to develop the essential skills needed to navigate school, relationships, and everyday life.

Professional learning will focus on developing and intentionally integrating skills such as:

  • Empathy

  • Compassion

  • Self-regulation

  • Stress management

  • Communication

  • Collaboration

  • Responsible decision-making

  • Relationship-building

Teachers will explore strategies that can be embedded naturally within classroom instruction, routines, relationships, and schoolwide practices.

Our goal: Create learning environments where students and adults feel safe, connected, supported, and equipped with the skills necessary to manage challenges and build positive relationships.

✍️ Strengthening Written Expression

To improve students' written expression, teachers will receive professional development focused on explicit, evidence-based writing instruction at the sentence and paragraph levels.

Teachers will learn instructional strategies and activities designed to help students:

  • Construct complete and meaningful sentences.

  • Develop simple, compound, and complex sentences.

  • Combine and expand sentences to communicate increasingly complex ideas.

  • Develop coherent and organized paragraphs.

  • Use appropriate transitions and sentence structures.

  • Strengthen vocabulary and precise word choice.

  • Revise and edit their writing.

  • Apply writing skills across content areas.

Professional learning will emphasize explicit instruction, modeling, guided practice, feedback, and opportunities for students to apply skills independently.

Our goal: Develop confident writers who can communicate their ideas clearly, effectively, and appropriately across academic settings.

🧮 Mathematical Problem Solving

Teachers will strengthen students' mathematical problem-solving process skills through the consistent use of a schoolwide problem-solving strategy.

Grades K–8: UPS Strategy

Students will learn to systematically approach mathematical problems by identifying what they Understand, determining a Plan, and Solveing the problem while communicating their mathematical thinking.

Professional learning will support teachers in:

  • Explicitly modeling the problem-solving process.

  • Teaching students to identify important information.

  • Selecting appropriate strategies and operations.

  • Representing mathematical thinking using models, equations, and words.

  • Explaining and justifying solutions.

  • Checking solutions for accuracy and reasonableness.

  • Using student work to identify misconceptions and determine next steps.

Our goal: Develop students who are strategic, persistent, flexible, and confident mathematical problem solvers.

🌎 Inclusive Tier 1 Instruction & Universal Design for Learning

Merchantville School District is committed to ensuring that all students have meaningful access to grade-level curriculum and high-quality instruction.

Teachers will implement evidence-based Tier 1 inclusive instructional practices that proactively address learner variability and provide multiple pathways for students to access, engage with, and demonstrate their learning.

Professional learning will focus on:

  • Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

  • Differentiated instruction

  • Appropriate accommodations

  • Specially designed instruction

  • Scaffolding and gradual release

  • Accessible instructional materials

  • Multiple means of engagement, representation, and action/expression

  • Collaborative planning between general education and special education teachers

  • Use of student data to identify and respond to individual learning needs

Our approach emphasizes access to grade-level learning rather than lowering expectations. Teachers will work collaboratively to remove barriers while maintaining high expectations for every learner.

Our goal: Ensure that students, including students with disabilities and diverse learning needs, are included, challenged, supported, and provided meaningful opportunities to demonstrate grade-level learning.

🔄 New Jersey Tiered System of Supports (NJTSS)

Merchantville will continue to implement a New Jersey Tiered System of Supports (NJTSS) model to address the academic and social-emotional needs of students.

NJTSS provides a systematic framework for identifying student needs, delivering increasingly targeted supports, monitoring progress, and adjusting instruction and intervention based on evidence.

Professional learning will support staff in strengthening the continuous cycle of:

Screen → Identify Needs → Plan → Implement → Monitor → Analyze → Adjust

Teachers and support staff will collaborate to:

  • Identify students who may need additional support.

  • Use multiple sources of data to understand student needs.

  • Strengthen Tier 1 instruction before moving to more intensive interventions.

  • Provide targeted small-group and individual supports.

  • Monitor student progress regularly.

  • Adjust interventions based on student response.

  • Address both academic and social-emotional needs.

  • Collaborate with families and colleagues to support student success.

Our goal: Provide the right support, at the right time, for every student, while ensuring that instruction and intervention remain responsive to student needs.

Our Professional Learning Commitment

Professional learning at Merchantville is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing cycle of learning, implementation, reflection, collaboration, and adjustment.

Learn → Apply → Analyze → Reflect → Adjust → Grow

Our collective goal is to strengthen educator practice so that every classroom provides students with:

High Expectations + Meaningful Access + Responsive Instruction + Supportive Relationships = Student Growth

Through this shared commitment to professional learning, we will continue to build instructional capacity and create a school community where every student has the opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed.

2026-2027 Professional Development Plan

Click here for the 2026-2027 Professional Development Plan. 

Growing Educators. Strengthening Instruction. Empowering Every Learner.

The 2026–2027 Professional Development Plan for Merchantville School District is designed to strengthen educator practice, build instructional capacity, and ensure that every student has access to high-quality, equitable, and inclusive learning experiences.

Our professional learning will be purposeful, collaborative, job-embedded, and connected to student needs. Throughout the year, teachers will have opportunities to learn new practices, apply them within their classrooms, examine evidence of student learning, collaborate with colleagues, and refine instruction based on what students need.

Our Professional Learning Vision

When we invest in the continuous growth of educators, we strengthen the learning experiences and opportunities available to every student.