Focused Professional Development

Professional development plans should be informed by an ongoing analysis of student performance data to determine areas of strength and areas for growth. Data from multiple sources including common formative and summative assessments, observations, work samples, portfolios, etc., enrich decisions about professional learning. The use of multiple sources of data offers a balanced and more comprehensive analysis of student, educator and system performance which leads into defining individual, team, school and system goals for professional learning.

Additional data sources, such as staff survey responses, may also be useful in conducting a needs assessment for professional development topics. Research indicates that professional development should be aligned to areas of need identified by staff.  For example, school leaders may survey staff on their comfort level with core instructional strategies and programs or learning walks that are focused on observing how educators are implementing what they have learned from professional development sessions and analyze what improvements are needed based on these observations.

Coaching and expert support must be focused on individual need. Numerous types of coaching (one-on-one, facilitated workgroups, or remote coaching) have been associated with larger student learning gains. In all cases, the support was focused on teachers’ individual needs and provided guidance and feedback. Also, a 2002 meta-analysis by Joyce and Showers makes a compelling case for the need for skillful coaching. The authors noted that even very good training that included demonstration, practice, and feedback resulted in only 5% of teachers using the new skills in the classroom. Only when training was accompanied by coaching in the classroom was there substantial use in the practice setting.

Feedback and opportunities for reflection are key components of impactful professional development plans. For example, a study found that students of teachers receiving coaching feedback and online content training had greater gains in language and literacy outcomes than did students of teachers just receiving online content.

Professional development sessions that engage educators in active learning, such as leading instruction with colleagues, engaging in role plays, participating in discussions, observing other teachers, and creating instructional plans, are more commonly listed as components of effective programs.

Providing models and modeling of instruction provides teachers with a clear vision of what best practices look like. For example, in a randomized control trial of science instruction, students whose teachers participated in peer reviews and feedback, collaborative analyzing of student work to identify models, and had access to model formative assessments, had significantly greater learning gains.

Embedding professional development into educators’ daily work through different use of time. For example, provide opportunities for teachers to engage in collaborative planning and reflection about professional development topics during team meetings.