Lawrence Public Schools in Lawrence, Kansas, has discovered that four components—clear expectations, a focus on results, effective support systems, and good modeling—have made a difference in helping staff members keep pace with the constant changes in society and demands in education. The district's 25 schools that serve 10,000 students, including about 1,890 minority students. Twenty-nine percent of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch.
- Professional development council. This council is the quality control body that oversees all staff development. It consists of representatives from each school and administrators from various departments, but teachers constitute the majority of the council, as required by Kansas statute. The view of our council is that professional development is more than a "sit and get" activity. To earn inservice credit toward recertification or salary enhancement, the teacher must engage in professional development that is related to student learning or that assists in improvement on the job. Lawrence teachers earn an average of 35 staff development points per year (20 points is the equivalent of 1 college hour). The council expects some kind of implementation. Because of these expectations, teachers find ways to use staff development in their jobs: They conduct peer observations, share student work with grade-level teams, share development of performance assessments, and participate in study groups and action research.
- Self-assessment. Council representatives completed the self-assessment in the National Staff Development Council's Standards for Staff Development (1994) in the spring of 1994. The ratings were based on their perceptions of what was happening in the district and at their school. The results indicated that we were strong on about a third of the 26 standards: continuous improvement, systems thinking, data-driven decision making, selecting staff development content, and several of the content standards. The areas we decided to focus on were not our lowest rankings, but the ones in the middle: organizational alignment and support, time for learning, integration of innovations, evaluation of staff development, follow-up, and collaborative skills.
- Site-based decision making. To strengthen our practices in relation to the staff development standards, we moved much of the locus of control for professional development to the school site. Schools receive money and substitute allocations depending on the number of certified staff at the school. School-based committees make decisions on how to best use their resources to achieve their goals. These same committees decide what inservice credits to award. For example, if a school's staff decides to target problem-solving strategies, the committee expects to find evidence that teachers are implementing these strategies with students and that students are using problem-solving strategies across the curriculum.
- Focus on curriculum and assessment. The district provides a support structure for schools in three main areas: curriculum and assessment, instructional skills, and the process skills related to school improvement. On release time, teacher leaders or cadres for the core subjects receive training to take back to their schools. These groups develop curriculum and assessments and identify research-based instructional strategies to implement, such as cooperative learning, graphic organizers, and literacy learning.
- Study groups. As a follow-up to instructional skills, schools may request to have a school-level study group composed of six teachers and the principal to pursue a topic that will address one of their targets. These groups, facilitated by a district instructional coordinator, are held on release time and involve peer coaching. Study groups have been successful in providing release time for learning, bringing about changes in teacher behavior, and providing follow-up. Of all our initiatives, school-level study groups have had the greatest impact on changes in teacher behavior. Neither teachers nor principals want these considered during budget cuts. Each year we often have more requests than can be accommodated by current staff.
- School-based committees. Through site-based committees, we have carved out various time frames and ways to use resources for professional development. School allocations can be used for substitutes for release time, stipends for teachers who work outside their contract time, fees to bring in presenters, workshop registrations, or the purchase of materials. Just as the district council oversees quality control at the district level, the school committee must ensure quality at the school site. They work to involve staff and promote their ownership. School committees ensure follow-up and make sure that professional development is ongoing and related to teachers' jobs.
Our greatest reward was to be recognized as one of five exemplary staff development programs by the U.S. Department of Education last February. It was an award shared by the many people who have helped to make a difference and who continue to model for students and colleagues that learning truly is a lifelong endeavor. In addition, 12 of the 25 schools have completed their first accreditation cycle with a recommendation for full accreditation. All these schools have shown increases in student achievement in one or more areas.
