Professional development has long been an area of peculiar tension in K–12 education. Everybody seems to agree it is essential to school improvement and educator growth, and yet there is also a great deal of skepticism about whether it is generally effective or, sometimes, even worth the trouble.
This friction was underscored to strong effect a few years ago by an influential research report put out by the teacher-recruitment group TNTP. The report—which was based on a multi-year study of three large school districts and one charter network—found that school systems were investing millions of dollars each year in teacher professional development but that there was little evidence (based on evaluations and other performance measures) that this training was helping teachers improve in their work.
At the time, there was some pushback on the TNTP report's motives and specific conclusions, but also a certain amount of grudging acceptance: What the report described seemed to match up with many educators' experiences. The report's closing call for schools to rethink their approaches to teacher learning and improvement was not something most educators would object to.
In effect, this issue of Educational Leadership follows up on that charge, focusing on the ways schools are reconceptualizing professional learning so that it is less about checking boxes and isolated directives and more about transference and impact. As my colleague Sherida Britt Green, ASCD's director of Professional Learning Services, confirms, this typically entails a high level of customization, a commitment to removing barriers to teacher engagement and success, and long-term follow-up.
In the lead article, for example, instructional coaching expert Jim Knight argues that school leaders can provide better support to teachers if they understand the developmental stages an educator typically goes through to become proficient in a new skill or innovation. Accompanying educators through these stages requires patience and a willingness to acknowledge the specific challenges they are facing. "A one-way model of change, in which experts put out ideas for teachers to implement and fail to take into account teacher knowledge, rarely succeeds," Knight cautions.
In his piece, researcher Thomas R. Guskey is similarly critical of the top-down, decontextualized models of PD that have often prevailed in schools. To have a chance of succeeding, Guskey argues, professional learning efforts must have specific, clearly defined outcomes; be adaptable to school or classroom variances; and be predicated on extended (and trustworthy) feedback and support. Among other things, this means school leaders must resist the gravitational pull of packaged models of PD or "what's popular" on the market.
For Jenni Donohoo and Ann Mausbach, meanwhile, the key to more effective professional learning is focused collaboration around specific problems of practice. They make a compelling case for the power of "joint work" in PD—where teacher growth is driven by goal and task interdependence in connection with student outcomes. As they describe it, this is professional learning that is grounded in localized inquiry and discovery and a commitment to refining practices.
While highlighting improvement strategies such as these, this issue also looks at the changing context of PD for this year and beyond. Thus, Douglas Reeves outlines lessons from the pandemic, while distance learning expert Mike Flynn offers lively tips on rescuing virtual PD from the "cycle of mediocrity." Vernita Mayfield, meanwhile, provides insights on addressing gaps in racial understanding that can undermine equity or antiracism training.
Indeed, professional learning is likely to play a key role in schools' recovery from this difficult period. We hope this issue gives you ideas, inspiration, and support in ensuring that it makes a real difference.
➛ Think of an innovation your school or district is trying to implement. Which of the 5 stages of implementation do you think you're at personally? What brought you to that stage, or keeps you from advancing?
➛ Can you identify instances where your school or district has made missteps in getting teachers to adopt an instructional change? What would you do differently now?
➛ How can your team plan professional learning with the end—specific student learning outcomes—in mind?
➛ What can you do to ensure teachers get the opportunity to "see explicit evidence from their students in their classrooms that the changes make a difference"?
➛ Has follow-up been an area of strength or weakness in your school? Plot ways to better examine and utilize evidence of impact in the near and long term.
End Notes
•
¹ Jacob, A., & McGovern, K. (2015). The mirage: Confronting the hard truth about our quest for teacher development. Brooklyn, NY: TNTP
