Teaching and Learning

Welcome to Teaching and Learning.

The mission of Teaching and Learning is to assist teachers and principals in preparing all students to pursue their goals for the future. Our vision is to build a collaborative culture focused on instruction, reflection, and continuous growth to positively influence teaching practices. We provide leadership and support teachers and principals in the use of the NPS Instructional Model, target based grading, standards and curriculum alignment, technology integration, and assessment.   

Teaching & Learning Staff Parent Guides
Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment/Grading NPS Instructional Model
Target-Based Grading  PLC & Assessment Schedule for 2024-2025

Professional Learning Communities, PLC’s,  are a fundamental function of Norfolk Public Schools. As a district, NPS is viewed and held at high esteem across the state because of our commitment to a collaborative PLC culture. 

Understanding PLC:  The technical definition is ‘an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve’ (DuFour et al., 2016, p. 10).  But what does that mean? 

Focus on Learning:  NPS accepts learning as the fundamental purpose of our school and therefore are willing to examine all practices in light of their impact on learning.  

Collaboration:  NPS is committed to working together to achieve  our collective purpose. We cultivate a collaborative culture through the development of high-performing teams. 

Results Oriented:  NPS assesses our effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions. Teams seek relevant data and information and use it to promote continuous improvement.