The Why
Effective professional development can boost student achievement by approximately 21 percentile points. (Yoon et al., 2007). By fostering a community of professional inquiry, building staff capacity, and promoting a culture of continuous learning, organizations can improve outcomes and create a collaborative environment where staff members engage in collective practice. Additionally, effective professional development provides strategic and sustainable guidance to help learners grow and become more effective. When designing adult learning experiences, it's essential to consider that adults must clearly understand why they should learn something, have a strong inclination towards self-direction, and become motivated to learn when they perceive a real need in their life situation. Furthermore, adults approach learning with a task or problem-centered orientation, making it crucial to align learning experiences with practical and relevant applications.
The Focus
Using data analysis, we will determine general areas of focus and ensure professional learning supports the following:
- strategic plan,
- collaborative team goals,
- compliance requirements.
The Process
The How
The change from professional development to professional learning occurs through micro-decisions and consistent messages that communicate, "This is a place where we all learn and grow." As we navigate this cultural change, we will keep these considerations at the forefront of our thinking:
- We regularly celebrate staff members' progress and growth regarding professional learning.
- All organization members participate in professional learning networks supported by collaborative teams. Leaders will be transparent in their learning and implementation challenges and their steps to overcome them.
- We create systems that enable staff members to share best practices.
- We regularly asked staff members' opinions about how we can continuously improve.
- We offer professional and system-level learning that is exceptionally clear and focused on the goals of the district, school, and department.
- We will leverage data (instructional framework evidence, workforce safety evidence, collaborative team data, etc.) to enable teams and individuals to create personalized professional learning experiences.
- Collaborative team learning experiences incorporate the highly social nature of adult learning.
- Professional learning must be viewed as a positive means to enhance what is happening in the classroom and with our job roles. Change is uncomfortable at first and requires extra work, but most staff will continue their implementation efforts if they see positive results.
References
Calvert, L. (n.d.). Moving from compliance to agency: What teachers need to make professional learning work. Learning Forward & National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future. Retrieved from https://learningforward.org/docs/default-source/pdf/teacheragencyfinal.pdf
Rodman, A. (2019). Personalized professional learning: A job-embedded pathway for elevating teacher voice. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Yoon, K. S., Duncan, T., Lee, S. W., Scarloss, B., & Shapley, K. L. (2007). Reviewing the evidence on how teacher professional development affects student achievement. Issues & Answers, REL 2007-No. 033. Retrieved from https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/southwest/pdf/REL_2007033.pdf