|
Researchers at PSA and staff from two school districts have teamed up to produce a guide that assists local policymakers, central office administrators, and school leaders to improve the quality of professional development and make it an integral part of their comprehensive reform efforts. The guide calls on superintendents to create professional development working groups to improve professional development programs and policies and outlines an agenda and strategies for action.
The action agenda begins with setting standards for high-quality professional development. It then goes on to using the standards to establish quality assurance mechanisms and ongoing evaluation procedures. The third item on the action agenda is to establish links between professional development and other key systems in a district.
Drawn from the experiences of two school districts, Memphis City Schools in Memphis, Tennessee, and the Dorchester County Public Schools in Cambridge, Maryland, the guide outlines six steps for policymakers and school officials to follow in setting professional development standards. These are: (1) Start the conversation with a broad representation of stakeholder groups; (2) Review the functions of professional development standards as program and policy tools; (3) Review professional development standards developed by others; (4) Draft the standards; (5) Go public and get feedback on the draft standards; (6) Communicate the standards to the education community.
The development of quality assurance mechanisms involves using the standards to review a sample of existing professional development activities to see how closely they match and to develop quality assurance guides to help staff plan high-quality professional development programs. Once implemented, the new professional development standards will need to be evaluated. This three-part process requires assessing the quality of professional development activities against the standards, assessing the extent to which participants develop and use new skills and knowledge, and assessing the extent to which professional development contributes to improved student outcomes.
The guide suggests that the third item on the action agenda, linking professional development to other systems in the district, begin by mapping existing relationships among the system. This includes bringing into alignment school improvement planning, personnel policies and practices, and resource allocations.
|