What We Know About Effective Professional Development for Teachers Academy of Pacesetting States Princeton, New Jersey 1

Studies of high-performing school districts highlight the key to raising student achievement: Improvement must begin in the classroom. By working to get effective research-based teaching strategies into every classroom, districts make use of a powerful lever for improvement. Gordon Cawelti and Nancy Protheroe Handbook on Restructuring and Substantial School Improvement

The Goal— Building Capacity 3

Schools need to: Use the research base to identify elements of effective instruction Increase each teacher’s repertoire of instructional strategies, thus equipping teachers to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body Increase teachers’ belief—both individually and collectively—that they can have a positive effect on learning for every student Help teachers see each other as the most powerful resources for improving teaching 4

Critical Elements of High-Quality Professional Development Content: Centered on student learning Context: Integrated with school improvement Design: Active, sustained learning Linda Darling-Hammond and Nikole Richards, Teacher Learning, What Matters? (Educational Leadership, February 2009) 5

Effective Staff Development Emphasizes clear, research-based indicators of effective teaching and classroom management Begins with a clear sense of what students need to learn and be able to do Uses an assessment of whole faculty and individual teacher needs as a foundation for decisions about focus/content Is job-embedded and team-based 6

Uses the research base on effective pedagogy Follows up training with support and time to practice Provides generous amounts of time for collaborative work Changes the organization’s structure and culture at the same time teachers are acquiring new knowledge and skills Sam Redding. Systems for Student Success: The Principal’s Role (presentation at 2009 VASSP Conference). Dennis Sparks. “Focusing Staff Development on Improving the Learning of All Students” in Handbook of Research on Improving Student Achievement. 7

Staff development. . . must have as its core process a “community of learners” whose members accept joint responsibility for the high levels of learning of all students. The teachers in this community of learners must meet regularly to learn, plan, and support one another in the process of continuous improvement. Dennis Sparks. “Focusing Staff Development on Improving the Learning of All Students” in Handbook of Research on Improving Student Achievement.

“Sit and Get” workshops Opportunities for teachers to learn from other teachers 9

Moving away from “seat time” Professional dialogue, sharing ideas and materials peer-to-peer Collaborative development of curriculum and instructional units Collective analysis of student work Use of coaches and/or peer observation followed by discussion Intervention teams focused on identifying and trying additional instructional strategies with students having difficulty 10

Professional Development “In” Work: Embedding Learning Opportunities in Teachers’ Daily Activities Learner Activity Informal Structured Individual Reflection in practice Individual reading Action research School self-study Collaborative Daily interactions Peer observations Sharing information and ideas Team teaching Peer coaching Designs for Learning: A New Architecture for Professional Development in Schools. P.V. Bredeson, 2003.

For an Effective and Cost-Effective Staff Development Program: Strategically align staff development with district and school initiatives Use indicators such as student achievement and observed classroom teaching practices to inform decisions about content and participants Provide high-quality, research-based content plus time to discuss and practice Broaden the definition of what staff development looks like 12