Research confirms that the most important factor contributing to a student’s success in school is the quality of teaching. While parents may not be familiar with the research, they are united in their desire to ensure great teaching for every child every day. Professional development is the most effective strategy schools and school districts have to meet this expectation.
The most effective professional development programs are comprehensive, coherent, and sustained. These are the characteristics of a high-quality professional development program: • Comprehensive – There is a structured curriculum with many and varied activities and people. • Coherent – The varied activities and people are logically connected and fit together. • Sustained – The program is lifelong and runs for many years to build and maintain a culture.
Professional development typically consists of isolated activities or events, such as a negotiated staff development day, a one-day workshop, a couple of days of orientation for new teachers, or a mentor.
Professional development is the strategy schools and school districts use to ensure that educators continue to strengthen their practice throughout their career. The most effective professional development engages teams of teachers to focus on the needs of their students. They learn and problem solve together in order to ensure all students achieve success. School systems use a variety of schedules to provide this collaborative learning and work time for teachers. When time set aside for professional development is used effectively and parents receive reports about student results, they realize the benefits to teachers and their students far outweigh the scheduling inconvenience.
A Public Agenda study showed that, given a choice, most new teachers would forgo more money in favor of a good principal, the chance to work with other highly motivated teachers, or an orderly, focused school atmosphere. Teachers and principals often feel isolated in their jobs and they thirst for more opportunities to network, share and collaborate with their peers. They want a culture that acknowledges respects and nurtures them as professionals. They want to be involved in decision-making and leadership in their schools. They want time to collaborate with their peers and reflect on their craft. They want increased opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills and to advance in their careers and they want these opportunities available throughout their teaching career.
Schmoker says, “Cultivating and capturing teacher expertise is one of the most grossly underused assets in education. A rapidly growing number of schools have made a momentous discovery: When teachers regularly and COLLABORATIVELY review assessment data for the purpose of improving practices to reach measurable achievement goals, something magical happens.” And that magic is student achievement. How? By having people working collaboratively as a team. For this to happen, mentoring ALONE will not produce the desired collaborative results. Mentoring is concerned with supporting an individual teacher, whereas induction is a group process, one that organizes the expertise of educators. Thus, we know how to ensure teacher success. Quite simply, by providing them with a comprehensive, coherent, and sustained professional development program.
Professional development is effective when it focuses on student learning, is structured to promote collaboration, and is supported to ensure sustainability.
References:
http://learningforward.org/docs/pdf/why_pd_matters_web.pdf?sfvrsn=0
http://newteacher.com/NSDCNewOrleansHandout.pdf
By: Mr. Ulysses Gabriel | Teacher III | Sta. Isabel Elementary School | Dinalupihan, Bataan
