Assessment of Professional Development Systems: Improving Rural Special Education Services

Rural Special Education Quarterly, Fall 2003 by Rude, Harvey A, Brewer, Robin D

Model Number One: Logic Models of Planned Change

Professional development is sometimes implemented with little attention to the impact or intended outcome of the enterprise. Frequently the most telling measures of professional development program impact become inconsequential process measures such as the following:

* Consumer enjoyment of the experiences and activities;

* Environmental factors such as room temperature and the comfort of the participants' work space; and,

* Unrelated factors including the quality and amount of food and drink provided during the course of the professional development experiences.

The reliance on process measures has little to do with connecting the value of professional development with outcomes for educators and the students being educated. In response to this dilemma, advocates of accountability have advanced methods for describing and evaluating programs in new ways. Logic models of planned change represent logical linkages among program resources, activities, outputs, customers reached, and short, intermediate, and longer term outcomes (McLaughlin & Jordan, 1999).

While the terms employed to describe the logic model framework are varied (see Teather & Montague, 1997; Patton, 1997; Montague, 1997) the basic intent is to clearly identify stakeholder perceptions of how a program will work. The process of constructing a logic model entails the following five steps: a) collecting the relevant information; b) clearly defining the problem and its context; c) defining the elements of the logic model; d) drawing the logic model; and, e) verifying the logic model with stakeholders. In each of these important steps two questions need to be answered: What needs to be achieved with the professional development system? Why is the professional development system important?

Seven major categories of information must be tracked to ensure effective accountability design. These include: a) resources/inputs or what the school staff intends to do with its resources; b) activities include those steps that are required to achieve the professional development outputs; c) customers reached which describes the clients or consumers of the intended activities; d) outputs or the short term outcomes of the program process; e) intermediate outcomes which identify how services and systems change as a result of the short term outcomes; f) long term outcome or the organization's vision of changes for children; and, g) external forces describing those contextual factors, not under the control of the professional development program, that could influence its success either positively or negatively.

The connections established among professional development activities for staff members who develop new knowledge, attitudes, and skills, and the learning and outcomes for students in the classroom result in inter-related and accountable systems of professional development. The enhanced systems lead to the preparation and support of fully qualified educators who provide enhanced opportunities for success and lead to the vision of greater results for all students. The identification of key external forces throughout the implementation process defines an effective logic model of planned change in professional development. The purposeful focus of professional development through the logic model approach ensures that knowledge, dispositions, and skills acquired by participants are all directed at increasing student learning and results.