a new vision for teacher professional development

Leadership, Nov, 2000 by Jody McCarthy, Suzanne Riley

Designs for Learning offers a new set of cultural practices that support good teaching and help students meet new standards of excellence.

Designs for Learning is based on the work of many educators who have researched and defined a vision for professional development and brought it to life in their schools and districts. Developed as part of the California Professional Development Reform Initiative, Designs for Learning represents a synthesis of research from across the country. Numerous school-based focus groups reviewed, discussed and revised the work so that it represents a distilled vision of what makes for effective teacher learning in California contexts.

In the Designs for Learning vision, teachers are the experts. They have access to each other's knowledge and work together to advance the profession. They are leaders working in schools that are structured to support their work as professionals, including a regular time and place to meet. Their professional development is linked to students' needs as identified in a comprehensive school planning process.

Because they focus on instruction and sustain professional development over time, they trust that they are prepared to meet the needs of each student by name. Because they have this trust, they are willing to be held accountable for producing results.

To bring about this vision requires that we continue to change the culture of teaching in California. We argue that the system of teacher development is a cultural practice guided by many implicit assumptions. Designs for Learning was developed to reveal and then to challenge these implicit assumptions and to provide a common language around which change may continue to occur.

Designs for Learning is organized around 10 "Design Elements" that are central to the teaching and learning process for teachers. The table on page 35 lists these 10 Design Elements and illustrates how they envision new cultural practices replacing old assumptions about professional development.

DESIGNS FOR LEARNING

Design Elements for High Quality             Old Practices
    Professional Development

1. Student data. Uses student       There are few opportunities to
performance and                     look at
achievement data, including         student work or other data.
student feedback,                   Someone
teacher observation, analysis       outside of the school makes
of student work and                 decisions
test scores, as part of the         about teachers' professional
process for individual and          development needs.
organizational learning.

2. Planning. Uses a coherent,       There are multiple school
long-term professional              plans and
development planning process,       planning processes.
connected to the
school plan, which reflects
both site-based priorities
and individual learning needs.

3. Time. Provides time for          Professional development takes
professional learning to            place on one's own time.
occur in a meaningful manner.

4. Leadership. Respects and         Taking a leadership role means
encourages the leadership           "breaking rank:
development of teachers.

5. Content and pedagogy.            Professional development follows
Develops, refines and               trends and educational fads.
expands teachers' pedagogical
repertoire, content
knowledge and the skill to
integrate both.

6. Inquiry. Provides for and        Professional development is
promotes the use of continous       episodic, not sustained.
inquiry and reflection.

7. Collaboration. Provides for      Teaching is an isolated
collegial work, balanced            activity.
with opportunities for individual
learning.

8. Adult learning. Follows          Professional development takes
principles of good teaching         place outside the school or in
and learning, including             settings
providing comfortable,              inappropriate for adult
respectful environments             learning.
conducive to adult learning.

9. Support. Creates broad-based     The community is not informed
support for professional            about goals for professional
development from all sectors of     development.
the organization
and community through reciprocal
processes for
providing information and
soliciting feedback.

10. Accountability. Builds in       Professional development is
accountability pracices             evaluated related to teacher
tices and evaluation of             satisfaction,
professional development            not impact on student
programs to provide a foundation    achievement.
for future planning.

Examples of quality programs

The Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program is one example of high quality professional development that has impacted the culture of teaching in California. Early on, the BTSA community asked how best to develop a trusting relationship between a beginning teacher and a support provider. This was at a time when the school culture supported the notion that teaching was an individual activity done in isolation from one's peers, and that professional development was an isolated workshop or conference that often had little impact on instruction once the teacher returned to his/her classroom.