Effective site based PD
Tomorrow is the first Wednesday of the month so students at PUSD schools will have a minimum day and teachers will stay at their own campuses for professional development or PD. Administrators as instructional leaders determine what the greatest collective need is for their teachers in order to impact student outcomes and design training opportunities based on that assessment.
With the upcoming CAASPP testing, some have chosen to work on aspects that would help students “show what they know.”
The technology based delivery of these tests requires online exposure and practice. Student analysis of the complexity of the performance tasks requires effective reading strategies. Student writing skills are a map of their thinking so help organizing coherent responses to text is also needed. One engaging training model is to have a few educators present strategies that have a wide application in multiple content areas. When teachers demonstrate mini-lessons for their colleagues, it helps to inspire the incorporation of new strategies that enhance student outcomes. Assessing the effectiveness of training can be challenging, but should include seeing how many teachers implement the new strategies.
Thomas Guskey is an international expert in evaluating professional training that leads to educational reform. He said, “The most effective professional learning planning begins with clear specification of the student learning outcomes to be achieved and the sources of data that best reflect those outcomes…professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students uses a variety of sources and types of student, educator, and system data to plan, assess, and evaluate professional learning.”
In his article, “Gauge impact with 5 levels of data,” he describes the process he recommends. The first level of data collection is participants’ reaction to the professional learning experience. Post PD evaluations usually ask teachers if they liked the experience and if their time was well spent. Meaningful well-planned activities with content from a knowledgeable presenter get high scores if that information was useful for enhancing student learning.
The next level of data collection about PD effectiveness measures what teachers learned. The new knowledge and skills that were gained can be demonstrated by teaching a mini model lesson to colleagues or designing a lesson with them to implement the new strategy.
Professional learning is intended to promote changes that align with the mission of the school. To be successful, these changes in teacher practice need to be encouraged and supported by the principal and/or instructional coach. Provision of sufficient resources such as time for sharing and reflection on setbacks and successes is a critical component. Documenting and improving support at an organizational level helps assess implementation efforts and determine future initiatives.
Following professional development, data collection about what was learned and whether it is reflected in teacher’s professional practices is needed. Measuring the degree and quality of implementation comes after teachers adapt the new ideas to their classrooms.
Assessment measures should occur more than once since adoption often happens gradually. The most accurate data typically comes from direct observations though it’s important to keep this unobtrusive. Analysis of this data offers information about the degree of implementation and the nature of future training.
Guskey recommends using these 5 levels of data collection in a backward planning manner in order to positively affect student outcomes. First educators decide what student learning outcomes they want to achieve and what data best reflects those outcomes.
Based on pertinent research, efficient instructional practices intended to produce their desired outcomes are presented. Then organizational support that facilitates the implementation of these practices is determined. The knowledge and skills needed by teachers to implement those practices is addressed. Experiences are designed to facilitate acquisition of the needed knowledge and skills.
Guskey’s backward planning process helps increase effectiveness for the professional learning because planning begins with a clear idea of the desired student outcomes and how to collect data for them. With these goals articulated, school leaders and teachers then plan training accordingly offering evaluation opportunities along the way.
Assessing instruction whether it’s of classroom learning experiences for students or professional development learning experiences for teachers requires clear outcomes and evaluation opportunities.