Have
you ever had to attend professional development and found yourself bored
completely out of your mind because the material presented was irrelevant or
because you were already knowledgeable about the content? This is the perception of some individuals
within organizations, specifically in education. In North Carolina, K-8 teachers are required
to earn three literacy Continuing Education Units (CEUs) prior to renewing their license every five
years. This is in addition to three CEUs
in the content area and two CEUs in general.
Though it is ultimately the licensed individual’s responsibility to
acquire renewal credits, school and district administrators usually provide
professional development modules to support employees in meeting requirements
for licensure renewal. However, teachers
seldom have the opportunity to weigh in on what they need to grow as
professionals and are subjected to pre-planned professional development activities
that do not account for what they already know and are planned oftentimes based
on summative test score data. Differentiated
professional development at the school level requires a delicate balance of content
that aligns with school initiatives and state and district requirements and
also meets the learning needs of staff.
Background
Information
The
school being referenced has only been open for three years and like many small
innovative schools, it was not short of challenges. Initially the school did not have several key
support staff and the middle and high school sectors had varying needs. The existing staff had to encumber many roles
that included providing for the academic needs of multiple grade levels while
honoring the school’s mission and vision statements. To support the vision for
the school, Art Costa’s Habits
of Mind was used as
a framework to facilitate the way students and staff interacted within the
school setting. Much like other small
schools in the district, the “newness” attracted many charter school families
and other parents who wanted a different option for their children. The year-round schedule was appealing to most
families and the opportunity to be a founding member attracted highly
supportive and enthusiastic staff. Once
opened, the school became a major competitor amongst the other secondary magnet
schools in the district. As a result, an
emphasis on the instructional focus, teacher activism, and the importance to remain
competitive through rigorous course offerings continues to be a driving force
behind the need for professional development. To gain insight about professional development
qualitative data from interviewing a principal, R. Melvin, who has 22 years of
experience in education, and V. Blue, a teacher who has 17 years in education,
specifically in Exceptional Children.
Each provides their opinion about the current status of professional
development at the school and district levels, the process by which
professional development is planned and implemented as well as how it can be
improved.
The
School’s Perspective
This
small innovative magnet school in Durham Public Schools is continuing to address the issue of
professional development that both meets the needs of staff and supports the
school’s instructional focus. In regard
to professional development offered at the district level, R. Melvin stated that
“workshops are loosely aligned with content areas. The district covers all areas but not
equally. Heavier emphasis is given to literacy and mathematics (R. Melvin,
personal communication, June 16, 2016).”
In regards to the school level, “information is really good but not
implemented well or at all. For example, Habits
of Mind was pushed heavily at first but has become very relaxed,
partly due to turnover. It’s hard to get new people on board (V. Blue,
personal communication, June 23, 2016).”
Both interviewees agree that all staff has access to ongoing, quality
professional development that extends beyond workshops. L. Blue said “through district offerings and
in-house” while R. Melvin noted, “PLCs are a huge part of this.” Interviewees shared their perspective on how
professional development was monitored so that
teachers have access and those with performance issues could receive the help
and guidance they need. The principal stated that professional development
needs were monitored “formally through administrators and informally through
leadership team members (R. Melvin, June 16, 2016).” The teacher said “there is support to make
sure that they get the PD they need.
Otherwise, teachers are expected to reflect and select what they need
according to their interests as well as guided if something was necessary. This is done via administrators and teacher
leaders. Mentoring is a plus to support novice teachers (V. Blue, personal
communication, June 23,2016).”
Determining
the Need for Professional Development
When
the principal and a teacher were interviewed, both stated that professional
development needs were established based on a variety of data points and not
just summative test scores. “Walkthrough
data, teacher input and test scores all play a role in identifying specific
professional development needs of staff
(R. Melvin, personal communication, June 16, 2016).” The principal also stated that “summative
test score data will always play a part in determining professional development
needs” because this data often dictates instructional needs that have to be
addressed in the school improvement plan, which is a state
mandate. The
teacher responded, “yes, the PD plan addresses how to meet the specific needs
of students but we have a lot of barriers (V. Blue, personal communication,
June 23, 2016).” When asked why a particular workshop or training was chosen
over another, R. Melvin reiterated the fact that professional development at
her school was “based on the needs of the staff.
If staff members are already knowledgeable then they do not have to spend
time in PD.” She continued by saying that “priorities for PD have been
given by the district but there is no rationale. The reasoning is not
clear and priorities are conflicting.
This is confusing for teachers and administrators and makes it hard to
prioritize for teachers when administrators don’t know (R. Melvin, personal
communication, June 16, 2016).” V. Blue
responded specifically about why internal professional development was
prioritized over other offerings and mentioned that professional development
was provided to “support the overall theme for the school and to build the
culture and educational environment that we are trying to cultivate (V. Blue,
personal communication, June 23, 2016).”
Both were asked about specific student outcomes that professional
development would impact. R. Melvin shared that “student achievement would ultimately
be impacted but also result in better students, better people, and better
citizens (R. Melvin, personal communication, June 16, 2016).” V. Blue elaborated a little further and
explained that student outcomes as the result of professional development would
“create independent learners, thinkers and leaders. The cross-curricular collaboration between
core and elective classes will eliminate silos” and force creativity that will
create connections for 21st century learners.
It
is evident that the school’s culture plays a viable role in professional
development offerings to support the educational setting as well as the magnet
theme.
What’s
Working Well
The
school offers job-embedded professional development during the school day in a
teachers-teaching-teachers format. Small
groups of teachers are strategically grouped based on their current level of
knowledge and/or need and are released to attend the professional development
for the entire day. Half of the day is spent on specific areas of need such as
differentiation, vocabulary development, etc., and participating in learning
walks encumbers the other half of the day.
Professional development sessions are the result of teachers advocating
for their needs as well as trends documented via walkthrough data. The learning
walks have proved to be valuable in giving observed teachers immediate feedback
from their colleagues as well as allow peers to see exemplary teaching and
learning. After the group has completed
the learning walk, they debrief and start planning how they can use, adapt, or
modify exemplary practices in their own class.
The principal and teacher who were interviewed both declared that having
a cohesive leadership team helps to ensure that teachers are able to implement
and formatively assess what they are being asked to do as a result of
professional development. However, their
opinions varied as it relates to the use of Professional Learning Communities
(PLCs) as a means to support and sustain ongoing learning. The principal indicated that PLCs are used to
continue high quality professional development whereas the teacher stated that
this was not necessarily the case.
Improvements
The
principal noted that the leadership team “is moving towards differentiated
professional development (R. Melvin, personal communication, June 13,
2016).” Both
interviewees agree that there is no reflection on whether test scores improved
based on specific professional development.
This is an area of progress monitoring that needs strengthening.
Frequent data dives to compare and contrast student and teacher performance
should include both summative and formative data. Data points should be used to support the
ongoing needs of staff. Bowgen and Server (2014) remind us that
“districts must gradually and systemically move from the one-shot, one-day,
out-of-the-district workshops to job-embedded, teacher-led collaboration in
which everyone’s learning style are to be conscientiously considered.” While
honoring the expertise of staff and to build teacher capacity, professional
development should be targeted and tiered using multiple data sources as a
means to rationalize the need. One qualitative
data point used is the evaluation that teachers complete at the conclusion of
in-house professional development. This feedback has been a catalyst for differentiating
professional development much like teachers are expected to do in
their classrooms and has prompted teachers to facilitate district workshops.
To
start the process of differentiating professional development, it is suggested
that the school take the following action steps:
- Survey staff to determine their existing knowledge, needs and preferred format. For example, if there is a need to learn more about classroom management, some may prefer a face-to-face workshop whereas another may need embedded job coaching.
- Identify qualified staff. This would be an opportune time for staff to lead beyond the classroom or school building. Furthermore, it is one way for educators to move towards the accomplished and distinguished categories on the North Carolina Teacher Evaluation rubric.
- Devise a process to effectively monitor implementation and sustainability. The teacher interviewed pointed out that the professional development to sustain the instructional focus has seemingly fallen by the wayside and that new staff members have not bought into the Habits of Mind.
- Differentiate professional development by using an expedited release of responsibility model. Bowgen and Server (2014) suggest the “I do”, “we do”, “you do” model to as a means to coach teachers with an emphasis on the “we do” to differentiate professional development.
- Determine the impact of professional development on student achievement. According to the principal and teacher, this is not tracked; however, there should be processes in place to measure the impact of specific professional development on improving student achievement.
The
conversation about professional development has come at a time when the school
is now fully populated at each grade level with students and staff. Since the school has a relatively low
turnover rate, now is the time to concentrate efforts on sustaining what has
already been implemented, get buy-in from all staff, and become a model
institution for the district and state.
While school leaders work to build teacher capacity to be effective
educators, differentiated professional development will be pivotal in the
development of teacher efficacy from the classroom and beyond.
References
Bowgen, L., & Sever, K.
(2014). Differentiated professional development in a professional
learning community. Solution Tree Press.
Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B.
(Eds.). (2008). Learning and leading with habits of mind: 16
essential characteristics for success. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
NCEES Wikispace North
Carolina Educator Evaluation System. (n.d.). NCEES
for Teachers. Retrieved 18July, 2016, from http://ncees.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/file/view/Teacher_Rubric%20fillable%2010.2.pdf/561103845/Teacher_Rubric%20fillable%2010.2.pdf
NC Public
Schools. (c2016). Licensure. Retrieved 23 June,
2016, from http://www.ncpublicschools.org/licensure/update/
Teachingchannelorg. (2016). Teaching
Channel. Retrieved 18 July, 2016, from
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/the-learning-walk
Zdonek,Pauline. (2016,
15 January 2016). Why Don’t We Differentiate Professional Development?. [Weblog]. Retrieved 25
June 2016, from
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-dont-we-differentiate-pd-pauline-zdonek
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