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Teacher Center Updates:

Digital Badges are moving to Schoology!

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New Book Studies coming Fall 2026

LAMINATING...

 

High School and Middle School Teachers:

 If you need materials for your classroom laminated, please email pszymendera@sweethomeschools.org to make an appointment.

Welcome to the Sweet Home Teacher Center!​

 

Professional Learning. Your Interests. Your Schedule.

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At the Sweet Home Teacher Center, we believe meaningful professional learning should be accessible, relevant, and designed with educators in mind.

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Our mission is to support the continued professional growth of educators by providing engaging, practical, and flexible learning opportunities that enhance teaching, strengthen professional practice, and ultimately benefit students.

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From our extensive library of more than 75 digital badge courses to our asynchronous book studies, wellness initiatives, and professional development workshops, we offer a variety of ways for educators to explore new ideas, develop skills, and earn professional learning credit.

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We recognize that educators have demanding schedules and diverse professional interests. That's why we've made flexible, on-demand learning a cornerstone of our programming.

 

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SHTC On-Line Academy Coming Soon~
10/2026

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The Teacher Center's creation of its very own on-line academy will be up and ready for the winter of 2026.  These courses will be offered via Schoology with a maximum of 15 participants per section.

 

Three areas of interest have been identified to support teachers.

  • Tech Tuesdays (15 hours)

  • Excellence in Teaching (15 hours)

  • Instructional Coach (15 hours)

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Stay tuned for updates about these on-line Schoology inservice courses!

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Book Studies On-Line
10/2026

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The Teacher Center's book study library continues to grow!

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NYS Teacher Centers

Beginnning in 1984, New York State Teacher Centers represent the largest professional learning community in New York State.

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The official name of Teacher Centers is New York State Teacher Resource and Computer Training Centers.

There are more than 130 Centers in seven regional networks throughout New York State.

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Teacher Centers work with more than 685 public school districts and more than 1,000 non-public and charter schools.

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The Teacher Center network executes a variety of statewide projects, such as Thinkfinity NY and Beyond, Regents Review Live and Leadership Academy.

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New York State Teacher Centers deliver professional development to support quality teaching for more than 300,000 educators in their communities.

 

Sweet Home's History

Founded in 1989, our Center has been providing professional development to our staff while complimenting district initiatives.



Recently, we have worked in concert with the district to provide time to teachers to attend programs such as:

 

  • Thoughtful Education
  • Literacy Training
  • Common Core Math Implementation



Far West Regional Network

VISIT our REGIONAL Webpage for more information!



Al Shanker

AFT President

1974-1997

History of NYS Teacher Centers...

In the 1970’s, Al Shanker visited England to learn more about the concept and operations of teacher centers. This idea was successfully promoted by the AFT and the NEA, and subsequently the Federal Government developed a competitive grant program for school districts, colleges and universities to develop teacher centers. The federal regulations developed during that time established control of the planning and management of the programs with practicing classroom teachers.

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In 1982, the Federal government eliminated funding to teacher centers and for several years there were no State or Federal grants available to districts. Some districts provided some funds to teacher centers to keep them operating, albeit on a significantly reduced basis. In 1984, NYSUT’s lobbying efforts were successful in getting a state law passed for the establishment and funding of Teacher Resource and Computer Training Centers (Section 316 of Education Law).

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