District Administration - November 2012 - (Page 37)

DeveloPment Districts shift from traditional professional development models to a culture of ongoing learning. A By SuSan McLeSter crucial elements of sustainability in professional development and are developing methods, programs, and services to help districts integrate these elements into their own school cultures. Although best practices in student instruction and learning have evolved dramatically over the past couple of decades, new approaches to educator professional development have lagged behind considerably. The traditional whole group, one-size-fitsall strategy universally recognized as ineffective for teaching students, has too-long remained the status quo for many school and districts leaders. Recent reports such as the 2009 “Professional Learning in the Learning Profession,” by the National Staff Development Council and the School Redesign Network at Stanford University affirm a direct link between highly effective, sustained professional development and differentiated approaches to teacher training, collegial collaboration and risk taking. Risk-taking includes embracing new teaching methods like the integration of online Khan Academy tutorials into a math class, and requesting feedback from students and parents on how it’s working. Risk-taking also includes a higher level of transparency, such as sharing classroom practices that didn’t work, as well as those that did, at a Parent Teacher Student Association meeting, or via a school newsletter or classroom website. Learning Forward, formerly the National Staff Development Council, defines sustained professional development in part as something that “primarily occurs several times per week among established teams of teachers, principals, and other instructional staff” that “engage in a continuous cycle of improvement…” “The idea of establishing a culture of continuous learning and of customizing that learning to each individual is a lesson we’ve applied to kids, but ignored for adults,” says Mark Atkinson, CEO of the professional development company Teachscape, which for 15 years has been helping teachers improve their effectiveness through video cameras and software designed to film classroom instruction to facilitate close analysis of instructional methods, and student-teacher interaction. “The real process of continuous improvement is very different from just a couple of days of inservice. Sustainability is key.” Teachscape is just one of many education companies and organizations that, in the past decade, have focused on identifying the Culture of ongoing learning Establishing and maintaining a culture of ongoing learning is the core principle underlying sustainability, says Shannon Ritz, director of professional development for Solution Tree, which publishes books by education researchers and supports them through conferences, workshops, and customized professional development services. “Creating a culture that is excited about learning is the strongest foundation for best practices in schools,” says Ritz. Among the best practice programs supported by Solution Tree are reform models such as Rick and Becky DuFour’s Professional Learning Communities at Work, which focuses on embedding teacher collaboration and student intervention into a school’s daily schedule. Solution Tree also supports Powerful Learning Practice (PLP), an organization co-founded by author and web 2.0 education advocate Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, veteran educator and author of The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age. Since 2006, PLP has been providing both in-person and web-based professional development services to more than 700 schools across 24 states and six countries. Like the DuFour model, PLP emphasizes the power of educator teams and communities to effect positive change and ongoing learning, but places a greater weight on the integration of web 2.0 tools and online personal learning networks (PLN) to ensure a sustained connection among participants. After an initial day-long, in-person “kick off” to its full-year training program, PLP has users share, collaborate and view best practices online through webinars, facilitated video discussions, and live-streamed classroom observations with schools across the state or across the nation. For instance, a group of middle school English/language arts teachers might observe as a group another teacher in their same subject area and grade level and critique it together in real time. Participants also engage technology for collaboraNovember 2012 37 www.DistrictAdministration.com http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - November 2012

District Administration - November 2012
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Flipping the Script in K12
Sustainable Professional Development
Brave New World of Teacher Evaluation
Philadelphia’s “Servant- Leader” Superintendent
Enhancing School Access Control
New Products
Professional Opinion
New Directions

District Administration - November 2012