Concept Schools offers professional development opportunities to (a) school boards and (b) school administrators and teachers.

1) Professional Development for School Boards

• Governance Consulting: Concept Schools’ staff conducts formal assessment of the entire board; probe for weak spots in board structure, procedures, and member performance. Create a plan for meaningful growth towards an effective board.
• Board Training and Renewal: Training for new boards and new board members is a review of the rights and responsibilities of board members as well as a guide to procedural and governance issues associated with charter school boards. Practical and hands-on training is available for policy development, board relations, how boards work, the nuts and bolts of consent agendas, opens meeting law, and other board issues. This training can include the role of committees, communication training, how to effectively work together, and board renewal.
• Strategic Planning: Knowing who we are, whom we serve, and where we're going -Planning for the Future: This seminar/training provides the tools for effective strategic planning to help organizations move forward and improve their effectiveness with their stakeholders. Having a transparent process with clear communication assures realistic goals and the means to achieve them.
• School Mission, Policies, and Community Relations: This should be an annual process that school boards and school leadership undertake each year to be assured that policies are current and appropriate and that action plans and responsible parties are in place. This is particularly acute in the areas of crisis management and disaster recovery.
• Professional Development Plans for Directors and Director Evaluation: This training component helps boards and directors have a common vocabulary and clear understanding of expectations for roles and performance objectives. The facilitator helps each party articulate needs, goals, and expectations and agree on a rubric for their assessment. Designs for Learning can help build collegial relationships, networks, and resources for both the director and the school board.

2) Professional Development for School Administrators and Teachers

Concept Schools provides teachers a wide array of workshops designed to guide and mentor them in the broad scope of needs including:

• Effective teaching techniques
• Student motivation
• Crisis management
• Behavior and classroom management
• Conflict resolution
• Communication skills
• Staff relations
• Parent relations
• Time management
• Homework, grading, and assessment
• Professionalism and professional ethics

Professional Development for School Administrators

Some of the professional development training and workshops for school administrators include:

• Board relations
• Conflict resolution and crisis management
• Networking
• Public relations
• Personnel management
• School business management
• Special education
• Parent relations
• Facilities management
• Marketing
• Fund raising
• Grant writing