Designing School Level Professional Development

Contributed by:
Sharp Tutor
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.
1. Designing School Level
Professional Development
2.  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
3. What is Your Professional
Development IQ?
Let’s take a quiz…..
4. 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.
5. West Virginia Board of Education
Professional Development Goals
Title IX of No Child Left Behind
National Staff Development Council
Standards for Staff Development
6. What are the standards for professional
development recommended by the
National Staff Development Council?
 Context Standards
 Process Standards
 Content Standards
7. Context Standards
 Organizesadults into learning
communities
 Requiresadministrators to guide
continuous instructional improvement
 Requires resources to support learning
and collaboration
8. 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
9. 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
10. Content Standards (cont’d)
 Prepares educators to use a variety of
classroom assessments to guide
instruction
 Provideseducators with skills to involve
parents appropriately
11. The Planning Process
12. Questions To Be Considered
For Planning
 Met AYP?  All teachers highly
 Identified for school qualified?
 Percentage of staff
improvement?
 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?
13. Comprehensive Data Driven
Needs Assessment
Categories of Data
 Student achievement data
 Demographic data
 Program data
 Perception data
14. Long Range Planning for
Professional Development
15. What is the main
purpose of long
range professional
development?
16. . . . to align teacher
learning with student
achievement goals
and objectives.
17. What has research
found regarding
traditional forms of
professional
development?
18. 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
19. Considerations Before Planning
 Personnel
 Schedule
 Incentives
 Measurement criteria
 Facilitation
 Budget
 Location and facilities (retreat setting)
 Approval or veto
 Commitment
 Trust
 Knowledge
20. 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
21. 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
22. Research-Based Guidelines
for Professional Development
 Guideline 2: Teachers Need to be
Involved
- Study groups
- Needs assessment
- Informal data analysis
- Grade level teams
23. 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
24. 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
25. 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
26. 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
27. 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
28. 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
29. Formats and Models for
Sustained Professional
30.  Current knowledge level of participants
 Expected outcomes for the professional
development
 Intended use for the information gained
from the professional development
 Research
31. 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%
Peer Coaching 95-100% 95-100% 90%
or Collegial
32. Joyce and Showers (2002)
Staff Knowledge Skill Transfer
Development (thorough) (strong) (implementation)
Theory 10% 5% 0%
Demonstrations 30% 20% 0%
Practice & 60% 60% 5%
Peer Coaching 95% 95% 95%
or Collegial
33. 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
34. 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
35. Remember . . .
monitoring is the
key to successful
implementation of
any plan.
36. Contact Information . . .
For further information,
counties should contact the
respective coordinator
assigned to the district.