Experiences with PD Standards
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Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1752] Experiences with PD Standards
From: Taylor, Jackie jataylor at utk.edu
Date: Wed Nov 28 20:33:13 EST 2007
PD List Colleagues:
As Evelyn noted earlier, the concept of having quality standards for
professional development is relatively new to our field. Yet, there are
some colleagues in particular states who have mentioned that they either
have standards or guiding principles, or that they are currently
developing them.
If you have experience with PD standards or guiding principles, will you
please tell us more? For example, I'd like to hear more from colleagues
in Arizona and their experiences with the National Staff Development
Council Standards. How is this affecting your work in providing quality
PD?
I'd also like to hear from colleagues in Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Massachusetts, California, Tennessee, and others, regarding your
experiences with either PD standards or guiding principles for providing
professional development. For example:
- What has been your experience with PD standards?
- How do you use PD standards in your work? Or, how are you planning on using them?
- What are some benefits of having PD standards?
- What are some drawbacks?
This is our opportunity to learn from each other about what makes
quality professional development that improves instruction and learning
for all adults. And it's just the beginning.
I look forward to hearing from you ~
Jackie
Jackie Taylor, jataylor at utk.edu
The draft AALPD Professional Development Standards and indicators can be found by visiting: http://www.aalpd.org/AALPDStandardsandIndicatorscombined11-06-07.doc
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1756] Re: Experiences with PD Standards
From: Fran Mumford fmumford at msde.state.md.us
Date: Thu Nov 29 08:00:28 EST 2007
- What has been your experience with PD standards?
Here is Maryland at the State Department of Education there are
Professional Development Standards that are used to approve professional
development activities for certification or renewal of certificates.
These hold for K-12 and adult education.
- How do you use PD standards in your work? Or, how are you
planning on using them?
We plan to use them to provide instructional guidance to teachers in the
implementation of our new curriculum that will be implemented in FY2009.
We will be responsive to their needs. Many teachers are also asking for
technology related skills training.
- What are some benefits of having PD standards?
The benefits are that adult education and correctional education have
access to an inclusive approval process. The guidelines fit our needs
and are geared to student learning outcomes and a series of
activities/events that are designed to take an instructor from awareness
to skilled user of the instructional skill/methodology. We can tap into
any professional development activity that has been approved for use
within the state. One that is particularly good is on "brain based
research and its implications for instruction."
- What are some drawbacks?
It takes considerable planning and development time (2-4 months) to
match the Professional Development Standards and to obtain final
approval. (Note: Once approved, the professional development activity
can be used as many times as needed.) I should also say that not all
professional development has to go through this process. It is only for
those activities that are related to certification/renewal.
The standards are good guidelines to follow and can be found on the
Maryland State Department of Education website. Standards are attached.
(Where it speaks specifically to children, these areas are waived for
adult educators.)
Fran
Dr. Fran Tracy-Mumford
Academic Program Coordinator
Correctional Education
Maryland State Department of Education
200 W. Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
phone: 410.767.0732
fax: 410.333.2254
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1758] Re: Experiences with PD Standards
From: Amy Trawick atrawick at charter.net
Date: Thu Nov 29 10:47:19 EST 2007
Experiences with PD StandardsFran, thank you for sharing Maryland's PD Standards. At one point you say,
- It takes considerable planning and development time (2-4 months) to match the Professional Development Standards and to obtain final approval.
Could you talk some more about what's involved in "matching" the PD Standards? For instance, does a PD event need to meet every indicator (I assume not) or one indicator from each standard--or is there some other scheme? I'm just curious about practical applications of a set of PD standards.
Thanks much,
Amy
Amy R. Trawick
North Wilkesboro, NC
atrawick at charter.net
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1759] Re: ProfessionalDevelopment Digest, Vol 26, Issue 33
From: Cindy Fischer CFischer at Harford.edu
Date: Thu Nov 29 12:18:58 EST 2007
In response to Fran Mumford's contribution, I'd like to add a few things. As an Instructional Specialist for one of the programs in the State of MD which works with the MD State Department of Education, I and the rest of the IS's in the State were given the PD Standards "rollout" at a meeting in October. The standards were developed by a group of stakeholders over a year's time. There are some problems, however, in how these standards will be implemented. For example, MD still has no real set of courses that an instructor, from beginning to experienced, must have in order to keeping teaching. Furthermore, there is no instructor certification or recognition attached to the implementation of these standards, which makes them difficult to "enforce." At the IS meeting in October, we were told there would be work groups who would help come up with a more streamlined package. I am all for standards and I think the standards the workgroup came up with are great. I'm just worried, as the IS who has to manage and implement professional development for an entire program, that this could become a "dicey" task, especially where our instructors are concerned. I know that professional development is an important aspect of instruction and that our instructors deserve the best. However, they also deserve to be compensated. As a State which receives considerably less dollars for its Adult Education programs, money becomes a central issue. I am sure we will come to an excellent resolution if we are given the time to carefully structure the implementation of the standards.
Sincerely,
Cindy Fischer
IS
President, MAACCE
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1760] Re: ProfessionalDevelopment Digest, Vol 26, Issue 33
From: Fran Mumford fmumford at msde.state.md.us
Date: Thu Nov 29 13:41:18 EST 2007
I will also mention there is a slightly different set of requirements
for k-12 teachers, adult education professionals who receive grants from
the state, and correctional education professionals who work for the
state. My previous statements could have been a little misleading.
There is tremendous latitude within the portfolio of courses that are
currently developed for teachers. For some correctional education
teachers, there are specific requirements to obtain initial
certification; otherwise, the activities are through personal choice or
specific program requirement, if s program places a requirement for all
of their teachers to take a specific activity/course. Hope this serves
to clarify.
Fran
Dr. Fran Tracy-Mumford
Academic Program Coordinator
Correctional Education
Maryland State Department of Education
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1762] Re: ProfessionalDevelopment Digest, Vol 26, Issue 34
From: Yankwitt Ira (79K755) IYankwitt at schools.nyc.gov
Date: Thu Nov 29 14:33:28 EST 2007
I very much appreciate the spirit of Cindy's post. Back in May, I
changed jobs from directing the state-funded professional development
project for New York City, to overseeing professional development
initiatives for NYC's largest program. The program I now work for (the
NYC Dept. of Education's Office of Adult and Continuing Education) has
over 400 teachers and nearly 800 classes citywide. I think the PD
Standards are both visionary and comprehensive. At the same time, as my
job has changed from thinking about professional development systems at
a macro level to thinking about professional development implementation
at a program level, the PD standards have gone from unqualifiedly
inspiring to somewhat frightening. My concern is that unless the
adoption of the Standards is preceded by an increase in funding for
professional development infrastructure and resources, they will go from
being a blueprint for systems-building to simply another accountability
burden for local programs.
Ira Yankwitt
Director of Program Initiatives
Office of Adult and Continuing Education
NYC Department of Education
