APPENDIX
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR EDUCATORS:
PRINCIPLES
Summary, July, 1998.
To ensure that educators in every school building in Indiana are actively enriching and enhancing students' learning through technology. Ensure that all teachers have an opportunity for professional growth in 'learning technologies' regardless of where they happen to be on a continuum. (USDOE goals)
Goals of Professional Development Programs:
- improve student learning
- improve teacher productivity by improving efficiency, and
- improve accountability to and communication with students, families, and communities
The role of the State of Indiana is to provide incentives and to assist in locating and creating new opportunities for staff development. The Indiana Department of Education will support school corporations in building capacity and culture for ongoing professional development at the local school site and in providing technology access for teachers.
Principles of Professional Development for educators from Learning Together: Professional Development for Better Schools, September, 1996:
- Effective professional development is school based.
- Effective professional development uses coaching and other follow-up procedures.
- Effective professional development is collaborative.
- Effective professional development is embedded in the daily lives of teachers of teachers, providing for continuous growth.
- Effective professional development focuses on student learning and is evaluated at least in part on that basis.
Implementing the principles of effective professional development may mean making profound changes in the way schools operate and in the relationships among administrators, teachers, parents, and community members. One framework for enabling schools to make these changes involves trust, time, and recognition. The people at each school, learning and working together to improve students' performance, are crucial for effective professional development. One way to build trust, provide time, and ensure recognition for effective professional development involves the following steps:
1. Identify the school's improvement needs and priorities through a process that includes teachers, parents, and administrators and that is formally endorsed by the school board, central office, and union.
2. Establish a reservoir of resources by consolidating existing professional development funds.
3. Create school improvement plan teams, focusing on one or two top priorities that each school has the resources to support.
4. Provide initial support for the teams by exposing them to new concepts of professional development, providing access to resources, and making adequate time available.
5. Operate the school improvement teams, using data, research, and outside help, and enabling other teachers in the school to benefit from their work.
6. Maintain communication and meaningful accountability by reporting to parents, colleagues at the school, and school district actors.