Abstract:

The program EXTRAORDINARY TEACHERS proposes a plan that (1) Recruits (2) Assesses (3) Trains (4) Supports 512 teachers from various educational levels across the Dominican Republic, in order to provide a solid foundation in their professional development throughout their careers, allowing access to multiple training alternatives to be cross evaluated in the schools where they work in THE quest of better academic results.

Aware that the teaching career is strengthened throughout time working in the system, that continuous development and training are essential to achieve learning objectives, and that each teacher must autonomously manage their development and strength as an education professional, the proposal EXTRAORDINARY TEACHERS is presented with the aim of attracting the best teachers across the Dominican Republic and creating the opportunity for them to become references for the entire educational community based on their contributions and voice in education.

With extraordinary teachers, we aim to create a new generation of committed and trained teachers to transform the education of our country.

After thoroughly studying the profile of the Dominican teacher, their needs, and the competencies defined for their development throughout their careers, we propose an innovative and distinctive training program that highlights teachers' self-management in their own teaching development.

The program starts from our knowledge acquired over a decade of implementing training programs for more than 12,000 teachers in the Dominican Republic, which allows us to understand the context, idiosyncrasies, and specific characteristics of a teacher, along with constant study, updating, and search for pertinent references to make accurate training proposals.

To enter the program, we start with a standardized evaluation of the interested teachers, identifying strengths and areas for improvement in their competencies and pedagogical knowledge. Based on this evaluation, critical starting points for teacher strengthening are presented, and an individual profile is generated to support the participant in their development plan process.

Teachers entering the EXTRAORDINARY TEACHERS Training Network have access to a training line with a rich catalog of alternatives for their professional development, designed under the highest standards of demand in terms of learning products for training.

Our pledge consists of:
- A better teacher + Better trained + Empowered in their lifelong development = A better teaching/learning experience = Better academic and life readiness.
- The formative program is distributed in three major blocks: The Teacher as a Person, Teacher Competencies, and The Teacher and Lifelong Learning.

The target audience is 512 teachers with national representation and representation of different educational levels (early childhood, primary, and secondary).

For program evaluation, the program includes an evaluation in three lines:
1. Initial evaluation of the participating teacher, crossed with the exit evaluation to measure their progress during the training and support period implementation.
2. Evaluation of the students, closely monitoring their academic results.
3. 360 Evaluation, involving families, directors, leadership teams, and the participant's peer teachers.

Keywords:

Teachers, Competencies, lifelong education, self-development, teacher training, innovation, peers, teacher development, pedagogical innovation, professional development, mentors, support.