Exploring the professional development design process: Bringing an abstract framework into practice

Science Educator, Spring 2002 by Rhoton, Jack, Stiles, Katherine E

Designing effective professional development programs requires a deliberate process in which careful consideration is given to numerous inputs into the framework design.

The improvement of student achievement in science education continues to be a top priority in the US. The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century writes: "The most direct route to improving mathematics and science achievement for all students is better mathematics and science teaching" (2000, p.7). Others agree, suggesting that investments aimed toward improving education should focus on the preparation and ongoing professional development of teachers and other educators (Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1999). While few would argue with these observations, improving teaching is a complex undertaking faced with many challenges.

For example, demanding standards and changing demographics present challenges. Educating highly diverse students to meet much higher standards requires tremendous skills on the part of teachers. Teachers today need to provide a wide range of learning experiences connected to what a diverse student body knows, how they learn, and the content and structure of the disciplines (Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1999; Ball & Cohen, 1999). Teachers need opportunities over time to deepen their understanding of how children learn science and to stay abreast of emerging technologies and research. Veteran and novice teachers alike need collegial arrangements that provide a structure through which they continually develop their expertise as teachers.

Professional development of teachers is clearly an essential element of science education reform.

All of the major improvement initiatives call for increasing teacher knowledge and skills because of the link between student achievement and teacher knowledge and skill. Research shows that teacher expertise can account for about 40 percent of the variance on students' learning in reading and mathematics achievement-more than any other single factor, including student background (Ferguson, 1991.) Other studies show a similar correlation between teacher expertise and student achievement across the subject areas.

Since teacher expertise has such a demonstrated impact on student learning, it stands to reason that programs that develop teachers' knowledge and skills are a sound investment in improving student outcomes. However, the research on learning (Bransford, et al., 1999) and that on effective teacher development (Sparks & Hirsch, 1997; Loucks-Horsley, Hewson, Love, & Stiles, 1998), suggests that teacher development as carried out in most schools today is not designed to develop the teacher expertise needed to bring about improved student learning. "The content of professional development is largely techniques, its pedagogy is training, and the learning it promotes consists of remembering new things to try in the classroom" (Thomson & Zeuli, 1999, p. 353).

The professional development systems and structures in most schools need to be redesigned to develop and support capable, knowledgeable and expert teachers. One framework for designing professional development has informed the design and implementation of programs across the country. In the book, Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics (Loucks-Horsley, et al., 1998), the authors describe a framework to guide the design of professional development programs. It is a process of decision making and conscious design based on several inputs (see Figure 1).

At the center of the framework is a planning cycle incorporating goal setting, planning, doing, and reflecting. The circles represent important inputs into both goal setting and planning that can help professional developers design programs to meet the needs of the audiences and that are grounded in best practice. The inputs guide designers to consider the extensive knowledge bases that inform their work (knowledge and beliefs), to understand the unique features of their own context, to draw on a wide repertoire of professional development strategies, and to incorporate designs to address the critical issues they are most likely to encounter. The arrows represent the continuous need to reflect: reflection can influence every input and is necessary since the design will continue to grow and change over time, resulting in the need to modify and adapt the existing design to meet the emerging needs of the program.

However, this is only a framework and bringing it to life requires "getting inside the developer's head" - exploring how individual designers struggle with each critical issue, examine their own beliefs and knowledge, consider the myriad combinations of strategies available to them, and carefully consider the contextual issues within which the professional development program will be implemented. This article is written with that goal in mind. One of the authors of the book, Katherine Stiles, interviews Jack Rhoton to explore how East Tennessee State University's PD Program reflects the process of designing effective professional development programs for science teachers.