Designing School Level Professional Development

1. Designing School Level Professional Development

2. 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

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 • Organizes adults into learning communities • Requires administrators 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 • Prepares educators to create safe and supportive learning environments • Challenges educators to set high expectations for all students • Increases educators content knowledge • Provides educators with research-based instructional strategies

10. Content Standards (cont’d) • Prepares educators to use a variety of classroom assessments to guide instruction • Provides educators with skills to involve parents appropriately

11. The Planning Process

12. Met AYP? Identified for school improvement? Met additional performance measure? All teachers highly qualified? Percentage of staff that received high quality professional development? Questions To Be Considered For Planning 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 • Keep teachers reading • Focus on one or two topics – connect all sessions to these topics • Start with the greatest need • Use a variety of teacher activities • Keep track of hours/consider time of year/avoid too much at once • All staff receives all training • Provide a plan for ample classroom practice/feedback • 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 Development

30. Considerations • 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)

32. Joyce and Showers (2002)

33. Long Range Planning for Professional Development Robby Champion suggests that professional development be planned in a three to four year periodwhich 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.