Those responsible for planning and implementing professional development must learn how to critically assess and evaluate the effectiveness of what they do (Guskey et al., 2009). This is part of what guides my work at Waterford.org. As Director of Educator and Family Partnerships, I strive to authentically engage, innovate, evaluate and improve our practices, while building capacity in our educator and family partners.
With this in mind, I've created effective, and not-so-effective, professional learning plans for the last 14 years. Knowing your audience is one thing, knowing what your audience needs and asking to understand is key. No one teacher is like another, just as a campus or district learning experience can't be a cookie-cutter event. During this 8 week course, work needs required me to create 3 different plan options for a large school district in New Mexico and 2 options for a smaller parish in Louisiana. I've created plans to fit a need, fit a budget, fit a school's unique technology needs, and fit calendar requirements. Anyone (organization) that sends in a one-and-done trainer is doing a disservice all around (The New Teacher Project, n.d.). My initial post for this course focused on my why (my mom) and how my organization views our work.
Validated by the 5 Principals of Effective PD, outined by Gulamhussein et al. (2013b), I know our current practices are on track with consistent, ongoing, individualized and customized support. We know the principles are reseach based and research proven, so we combine those best practices with the research of Dr. Dean Fixsen (Implementation research, 2005), to prepate, execute, and evaluate our custom and targeting PL plans. The link below shares an example of what a full-year of implementation partnering and support for school stakeholders may look like, depending on district time and budget.
This course allowed me to inspect what we expect, another key concept that makes professional learning a positive and beneficial experience. Growth comes from self-reflection and evaluation. Which is what I've done in this last post I'll share:
In reflective summary: I'd recommend 5389 expand from theory and planning to execution. I believe there is time and bandwidth for this addition in this class. Future students would benefit from delivering a part of their plan via video vs. writing or talking about what they could or would do. Alternatively, allow students to analyze videos of PL delivery in action. Identify ways to make PL more engaging. Evaluate what a Good, Better, and Best situation would look like. Role play a planning and implementation meeting or real-world scenarios and conversations to determine needs. As a hiring manager, I'd look for candidates that can perform on paper and in person. The theory behind effective Professional Learning is necessary and can be taught. Delivery, feedforward, analysis and self-evaluation require action, and allow for greater growth.
References:
Fixsen, D. L., Naoom, S. F., Blase, K. A., & Friedman, R. M. (2005). Implementation research: A synthesis of the literature. Tampa, Fla.: University of South Florida.
Gulamhussein, A., Center for Public Education, & National School Boards Association. (2013b). Teaching the teachers. In Center for Public Education.
Guskey, T. R., Jr., Yoon, K. S., American Institutes for Research, & Thomas R. Guskey. (2009). What works in professional development? The Leading Edge | Professional Learning, 495. https://tguskey.com/wp-content/uploads/Professional-Learning-5-What-Works-in-Professional-Development.pdf
The New Teacher Project. (n.d.). THE MIRAGE Confronting the hard truth about our quest for teacher development. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED558206.pdf
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