Virginia School District plans state's second Center for Quality Teaching & Learning™

(LEE COUNTY, VA) The Quality Teaching & Learning program will expand to a second Western Virginia school district as Lee County's school system enters a partnership with ExplorNet.

Future home of the Lee County Center for Quality Teaching & Learning.

Jack Gilley, Title I coordinator for the county, along with Secondary Education Director, Gary Purdue have been working for the past several months to open the center.  It's slated to open in December, when the district's administrators will be the first to go through the QTL™ Leadership Program.

Gilley and Purdue got the idea after seeing a news article about Botetourt County's Center.  They visited last spring and were convinced this program is right for Lee County's teachers.  They are planning for 240 teachers to complete the program during 2005.

"We saw how the teaching strategies are modeled and really liked the concept of this program.  It's mostly teaching strategies, with some technology mixed in.  Our teachers need the help this program has given Botetourt County," Gilley said.

Purdue, a former principal, says he's interested in the high school version of the program.  From vocational to science to English, the program is suited for all teachers and is focused on looking at student data and school improvement plans. At the end of the program, teachers will complete a collaborative project in their individual schools.

Lee County's new program will be led by Southwest Virginia native Vonda Ferguson.  Ferguson has been involved in administration and has taught kindergarten, elementary and adult students over her 10-year career.  She's excited about this new partnership with ExplorNet and is anxious to get started.

"This type of professional development allows teachers who are already experts in their field to grow professionally in a dynamic and exhilarating atmosphere," Ferguson says, "and I am extremely proud to be a part of bringing these educational changes to Southwest Virginia."