Designing School Level
Professional Development
Overview
Assessing prior knowledge of professional
development
Defining professional development
Designing professional development plans
Investigating formats and models of
sustained professional development
Monitoring and leadership roles
What is Your Professional
Development IQ?
Let’s take a quiz…..
What is professional development?
Professional development is the
process of improving staff skills and
competencies needed to produce
increased educational achievement for
students by creating a new classroom
culture.
West Virginia Board of Education
Professional Development Goals
Title IX of No Child Left Behind
National Staff Development Council
Standards for Staff Development
What are the standards for professional
development recommended by the
National Staff Development Council?
Context Standards
Process Standards
Content Standards
Context Standards
Organizesadults into learning
communities
Requiresadministrators to guide
continuous instructional improvement
Requires resources to support learning
and collaboration
Process Standards
Uses disaggregated data to determine priorities
for professional development
Uses multiple sources to evaluate effectiveness
Prepares educators to apply research to decision
making
Designs learning strategies appropriate to
intended goal
Applies knowledge of human learning and change
Provides educators with skills to collaborate
Content Standards
Prepareseducators to create safe and
supportive learning environments
Challengeseducators to set high
expectations for all students
Increases educators content knowledge
Provideseducators with research-
based instructional strategies
Content Standards (cont’d)
Prepares educators to use a variety of
classroom assessments to guide
instruction
Provideseducators with skills to involve
parents appropriately
The Planning Process
Questions To Be Considered
For Planning
Met AYP? All teachers highly
Identified for school qualified?
improvement? Percentage of staff
Met additional that received high
performance quality professional
measure? development?
If the school has met AYP and is NOT identified for
improvement, what indicators would support a need
for continuous school improvement?
Comprehensive Data Driven
Needs Assessment
Categories of Data
Student achievement data
Demographic data
Program data
Perception data
Long Range Planning for
Professional Development
What is the main
purpose of long
range professional
development?
. . . to align teacher
learning with student
achievement goals
and objectives.
What has research
found regarding
traditional forms of
professional
development?
What has research found regarding traditional
forms of professional development?
Fragmented
Piecemeal
Simplistic
Too many topics
Lack of focus
Lack of school-related learning
Don’t measure change in instructional practice
Lack of integration with classroom practice
Passive role of teachers
Lack of financial support
Considerations Before Planning
Personnel
Schedule
Incentives
Measurement criteria
Facilitation
Budget
Location and facilities (retreat setting)
Approval or veto
Commitment
Trust
Knowledge
Guidelines for Developing
Professional Development Plans
1. Keep teachers reading
2. Focus on one or two topics – connect all sessions to
these topics
3. Start with the greatest need
4. Use a variety of teacher activities
5. Keep track of hours/consider time of year/avoid too
much at once
6. All staff receives all training
7. Provide a plan for ample classroom practice/feedback
8. Scaffold instruction for teachers
Research-Based Guidelines
for Professional Development
Guideline 1: Focus on students and
student performance
- Topics of workshops
- Activities
- Standards
- Informal assessments
- Evaluation of students’ work
Research-Based Guidelines
for Professional Development
Guideline 2: Teachers Need to be
Involved
- Study groups
- Needs assessment
- Informal data analysis
- Grade level teams
Research-Based Guidelines
for Professional Development
Guideline 3: Professional Development
Needs to be School-Based
- In-school coaches
- Class observations
- Class feedback
- Demonstrations and model teaching
Research-Based Guidelines
for Professional Development
Guideline 4: Teachers Need to Solve
Problems Collaboratively
- Grade level teams
- Analysis of student work and data
- Collaborative decision-making about
content
Research-Based Guidelines
for Professional Development
Guideline 5: Professional Development
Needs to be Ongoing and Supported
- Same presenter over time
- Coaches working directly with
teachers/follow-up meetings
- Micro-teaching with peers
- Practice teaching with feedback
- Ongoing support from the principal
Research-Based Guidelines
for Professional Development
Guideline 6: Teachers Need Theoretical
Understanding
- Competent presenters
- Books,articles to read
- Topics for workshops,study groups
- Learning spaced out over time
- Follow-up in the classroom
- Coaches with theoretical knowledge
Research-Based Guidelines
for Professional Development
Guideline 7: Professional Development
Must Be Part of a Comprehensive Change
Process
- District-level support
- Addressing barriers to implementation
- Adequate resources
- Sufficient time to learn, plan and
implement new practices
Research-Based Guidelines
for Professional Development
Guideline 8: Avoid Fads
- Appropriate and relevant materials
- Topics related to student learning
- Readings, related to coursework,
workshop, and study group learning
- FOCUS on instruction
- Stay focused for 3-5 years
- Avoid presenters with pre-packaged
presentations
Formats and Models for
Sustained Professional
Development
Considerations
Current knowledge level of participants
Expected outcomes for the professional
development
Intended use for the information gained
from the professional development
Research
Joyce and Showers (87-88)
Staff Knowledge & Ability to Use Transfer to
Development Understanding New Skill Classroom
Theory 90% 25% 5%
Demonstration 90% 50% 5%
Practice and 90% 90-95% 5%
Feedback
Peer Coaching 95-100% 95-100% 90%
or Collegial
Support
Joyce and Showers (2002)
Staff Knowledge Skill Transfer
Development (thorough) (strong) (implementation)
Theory 10% 5% 0%
Demonstrations 30% 20% 0%
Practice & 60% 60% 5%
Feedback
Peer Coaching 95% 95% 95%
or Collegial
Support
Long Range Planning for
Professional Development
Robby Champion suggests that
professional development be planned in a
three to four year period which permits
professional development to be
differentiated and delivered in four levels:
Awareness
Developmental
Transfer
Institutionalization
Once completed a draft plan should be
evaluated based on the following . . .
National Staff Development Council
standards
State initiatives
Content standards and objectives
Research based practices
Student learning goals
Staff needs and preferences
District/school calendar and master schedule
Remember . . .
monitoring is the
key to successful
implementation of
any plan.
Contact Information . . .
For further information,
counties should contact the
respective coordinator
assigned to the district.
