Balance of PD
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Subject:[ProfessionalDevelopment] Brief answers from MA to PD questions 1, 2, & 4 From:Stephen Reuys Steve.Reuys at umb.edu Date:Wed Feb 1 13:35:03 EST 2006
- 2. What per cent of your PD work is driven by requests from practitioners and what per cent is driven by your funders? What, from your perspective, would be the ideal ratio? 50/50 60/40 20/80 ? And why?
The answer to this question would probably vary, depending on whether this is figured based on number of activities offered, amount of funds invested, amount of SABES staff time allocated, amount of program staff time devoted to attending certain activities, or some other measure. At this point, I would say that that the ratio is probably roughly 60% funder-driven and 40% practitioner/field-driven. In an ideal world I would like to see a much higher percentage devoted to working at the program level on issues of curriculum and instruction.
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment] Brief Answers for PD Question 2
From: Wendi Maxwell WMaxwell at cde.ca.gov
Date: Wed Feb 1 16:43:07 EST 2006
- Question: "What per cent of your PD work is driven by requests from practitioners and what per cent is driven by your funders?"
As one of "the funders," I'd like to explain how state agencies
frequently decide what priorities to address. I'll also touch on how we
determine PD priorities in California.
State agencies by definition have a different view than teachers or
local administrators. The job of a state agency is to identify the
trends and priorities on the horizon and to look at the overarching
needs within all local agencies in the state. Local administrators and
teachers know what PD is appropriate for their agency, but frequently do
not recognize statewide PD issues, primarily because they have limited
exposure to national discussions, and limited exposure to practices in
other schools or local agencies.
The process for determining PD priorities therefore must include both
state and locally identified needs. State needs are generally regulatory
items or topics that will generate systemic change. Local needs are
generally more developmental, improving on the existing skills or
practcies of the teachers in the local agency. Our initial decision to
focus on learning disabilities and our statewide Research to Practice
Initiative were both examples of "top-down" priorities. Both now show up
as local priorities.
California tries to combine state and local priorities. Our annual
online PD needs assessment collects information from teachers and
administrators. We also look at emerging trends, national priorities,
and information from dozens of site visits to local agencies. We use a
PD advisory board, a partnership team composed of administrators from
throughout the state, and local needs assesments from each Professional
Development Center. Over the past few years, the priorities from the
state (funder) and the local practitioners have been surprisingly close.
Wendi Maxwell
