2024 Virginia Cybersecurity Education Conference

Are you a teacher in a Virginia school who could use $2000 for professional development opportunities YOU choose? If so, attend this session to learn about The Professional Learning by Choice Community (CHOICE), administered by Virginia Ed Strategies!

CHOICE is funded by a $10.8M US Department of Education (USED) Education Research and Innovation (EIR) grant to research the impact of giving teachers autonomy in their professional development. The CHOICE model includes $2000 per teacher annually for professional learning, wrap-around supports, and a collaborative peer-to-peer virtual community to empower teachers to reflect on their current practices, select and attend professional learning opportunities that are relevant and impactful for them, and implement new strategies in their classrooms that lead to positive student outcomes. In its fourth year of implementation, CHOICE currently serves 400 STEM and CTE teachers from 88 Virginia public school divisions and is accepting 600+ new participants in the summer of 2024. To be eligible for cohort 2, a teacher must teach math, science, computer science, or career and technical education/career exploration to students at any grade level - PK-12.

Attend this session to learn about the innovative solutions being developed and implemented in the CHOICE model to address teacher challenges including burnout, isolation, lack of time, implementation barriers, data-driven decision-making, and others. Presenters will provide a deep dive into the virtual professional learning community, showcase the customized tools being used, and encourage attendees who are eligible to complete interest forms to join the program this year.