Professionals in all careers including doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers and educators engage in professional learning throughout their career to stay current on best practices in their field. For teachers and school leaders, they need to constantly expand their knowledge and skills of best educational practices. In Rockwood, professional learning days are set aside for our teachers to become even more effective so that their students can achieve at the highest levels possible.

While teachers spend time in the summer learning and developing, professional learning is most effective when it occurs in the context of their daily work in their classrooms. During the school year, teachers can immediately apply their learning to the classroom with their students.

The Rockwood Board of Education approved changing the professional learning structure from the 8 half days to 4 full days for the 2020-21 school year. This change resulted in more instructional minutes and higher quality instructional time for students by eliminating the transition time required for the logistics of an early dismissal. This change also resulted in more quality time for teachers' professional learning. The four full days allow more time for teachers to focus on their professional learning at the building and district level. In addition, all schools in the district being off at the same time allows for more collaboration between buildings.

Professional learning is most effective when it occurs in the context of teachers' daily work in their classrooms. During the school year, teachers can immediately apply their learning to the classroom with their students.  

Rockwood's Professional Development (PD) committee, composed of teachers and administrators from all buildings, decide what dates are best for delivering PD. 

The state requires students in MO to attend a minimum of 1044 hours each year. The Rockwood Board of Education and administration is committed to providing students in Rockwood with an outstanding education.

Rockwood creates the school calendar each year for two years in advance of the current school year. This helps both for the district planning and family planning. The committee meets twice each year. The first meeting is to create a draft calendar that is created using the many required and suggested parameters. This draft is shared with the district at large (staff, parents and community) for feedback. Then the second meeting is to review the feedback and make a final decision on the draft calendar that is presented to the Board of Education.  

The committee is composed of teachers, parents and administrators. The goal for membership is to try and have balanced representation from all levels (elementary, middle school, etc.) as well as departments. 

The Rockwood Board of Education and administration is committed to providing students in Rockwood with an outstanding education. In order to accomplish that task, teachers are employed on 190 days contracts so that the work involved in providing this exceptional experience can be accomplished. 

In 2019, the state passed a new law that requires school districts to start no earlier than 10 days prior to Labor Day. Rockwood (and most other area school districts) started the year mid-August for more than a decade, but with this new law we now have a more set date that the school year begins. With this later start date, it basically creates a two-week “push” forward of the school calendar. In order for us to have a Fall break, we would have to readjust several days that we currently are not in session. These four days are either part of policy, teacher negotiated agreement, or community practice, i.e. the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

The Rockwood Board of Education and administration is committed to providing students in Rockwood with an outstanding education. In order to accomplish that task, teachers are employed on 190 days contracts so that the work involved in providing this exceptional experience can be accomplished. 

Teachers work two evenings in the fall semester and two evenings in the spring semester to conduct conferences with parents to share their child’s progress in school.  These four evenings are compensated with two days off during the school year. These days fall within a three-week window of the quarter ending.