By
Simon Quattlebaum | Substitute Teacher, New Jersey Public Schools
Educators must understand the concepts in processing professional
development and what it means to education. The National Staff
Development Council (2007) created a set of nine standards that all
professional development should follow. They include content knowledge
and quality teaching, research-basis, collaboration, diverse learning
needs, student learning environments, family involvement, evaluation,
data-driven design, and teacher learning.
However, it does not determine whether accountable measures are being
gathered to determine if this information has benefited the education
system as a whole.
Professional development refers to the development of a person in his
or her professional role. According to Glattenhorn (1987), by gaining
increased experience in one’s teaching role they systematically gain
increased experience in their professional growth through examination of
their teaching ability. Professional workshops and other formally
related meetings are a part of the professional development experience
(Ganzer, 2000). Much broader in scope than career development,
professional development is defined as a growth that occurs through the
professional cycle of a teacher (Glattenhorn, 1987). Moreover,
professional development and other organized in-service programs are
deigned to foster the growth of teachers that can be used for their
further development (Crowther et al, 2000). One must examine the content
of those experiences through which the process will occur and how it
will take place (Ganzer, 2000; Guskey, 2000).
This perspective, in a way, is new to teaching in that professional
development and in-service training simply consisted of workshops or
short term courses that offered teachers new information on specific
aspects of their work (Brookfield, 2005). Champion (2003) posited that
regular opportunities and experiences for professional development over
the past few years had yielded systematic growth and development in the
teaching profession.
Many have referred to this dramatic shift as a new image or a new
module of teacher education for professional development (Cochran-Smith
& Lytle, 2001: Walling & Lewis, 2000). In the past 15 years
there have been standards-based movements for reform (Consortium for
Policy Research in Education, 1993; Hord, 2004; Kedzior & Fifield,
2004: Sparks, 2002). The key component of this reform effort has been
that effective professional development has created a knowledge base
that has helped to transform and restructure quality schools (Guskey,
1995; Willis, 2000).
Much of the available research on professional development involves
its relationship to student achievement. Researchers differ on the
degree of this relationship. Variables are the school, teacher, student
level related to the level of learning within the classroom, parent and
community involvement, instructional strategies, classroom management,
curriculum design, student background knowledge, and student motivation
(Marzano, 2003). Based upon a review of several studies, Marzano (2003)
concluded that the professional development activities experienced by
teachers have a similar impact on student achievement to those of the
aforementioned variables.
Opportunities for active learning, content knowledge, and the overall
coherence of staff development are the top three characteristics of
professional development. Opportunities for active learning and content
specific strategies for staff development refer to a focus on teacher
application of learned material. Overall coherence refers to the staff
development program perceived as an integrated whole and development
activities building upon each other in a consecutive fashion. Marzano
(2003) warned, however, that standardized staff development activities
which do not allow for effective application would be ineffective in
changing teacher behavior.
Richardson, (2003) published a list of characteristics associated
with effective professional development, stating that such programs
would optimally be:
“statewide, long term with follow-up; encourage collegiality;
foster agreement among participants on goals and visions; have a
supportive administration; have access to adequate funds for materials,
outside speakers, substitute teachers, and so on; encourage and develop
agreement among participants; acknowledge participants existing beliefs
and practices; and make use of outside facilitator/staff developers.”
(p. 402)
Kedzior and Fifield (2004) described effective professional
development as a prolonged facet of classroom instruction that is
integrated, logical and on-going and incorporates experiences that are
consistent with teachers’ goals; aligned with standards, assessments,
other reform initiatives, and beset by the best research evidence.
Elmore (2002) described professional development as sustained focus over
time that is consistent with best practice.
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References
Brookfield, S. (2005).
Power of critical theory for adult learning and teaching. Berkdire, Great Britain: McGraw-Hill Education.
Champion, R. (2003). Taking measure: The real measure of professional
development program’s effectiveness lies in what participants learned.
Journal of Staff Development, 24(1), 1–5.
Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (2001). Beyond certainty:
Taking an inquiry stance on practice. In A. Lieberman & L. Miller
(Eds.),
Teachers caught in the action: Professional development that matters (pp. 45–61). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
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