PDPlatformGeneralDiscussion
From LiteracyTentWiki
The Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers, a network of professional developers across the country, is engaged in an on-going process of developing a platform of policies related to professional development. This platform would constitute a vision for professional development for which the whole field can advocate. AALPD invites discussion of this platform, in an effort to draft policies that represent the field's view. Please join the discussion by subscribing to NIFL-AALPD. To subscribe, visit:
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/nifl-aalpd/subscribe_aalpd.html
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Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:2010] Re: Professional Development Recommendations
From: djrosen_at_comcast.net
I think the most valuable professional development for adult literacy education teachers takes place:
- 1) within the context of program improvement, and/or
- 2) as part of a professional certification or graduate degree program, and/or
- 3) as a systematic effort carried out by a very committed teacher on her own.
I don't mean that every program improvement effort, or every certification or graduate degree program, provides an example of good professional development, but that program development and certification or degree programs often provide a larger, sustained, more highly committed context in which teachers can engage in a meaningful cycle of learning, application, and reflection for professional growth. And, of course, a degree or certificate cannot necessarily be assumed to be evidence of good professional development or of good teaching skills and knowledge. Often, it isn't.
Professional development theory and research is best integrated in one's professional knowledge or repertoire of skills when it takes place alongside a practice context. Teachers engaged in professional development benefit from having students with whom they can try out new skills, knowledge and approaches. (Let's leave aside for now whether or not those students benefit.) The professional growth takes place through an interactive process between teacher and student(s), practice informed by the teacher's learning from theory or research -- including her own research -- and reflection. It is more than an interactive process between the teacher and teacher educator. Both kinds of interaction (teacher and teacher educator, teacher and students) are needed. And the teacher needs enough time, in both interactions, for reflection. This meaningful professional development process takes place best when programs and the state education agency support a professional development environment.
What does a professional development (PD) environment look like at a program level?
- 1) Administrators, including supervisors, and other colleagues encourage teachers to grow professionally, for example, by providing paid work time for PD, by including PD activities as part of a teacher job description, by putting PD on the agenda at staff meetings, and by setting aside a time (a day a month, for example) for PD work and staff discussion about it.
- 2) Every teacher has an individual PD plan, with PD goals and activities planned for the year.
- 3) Examples of substantive PD which are encouraged include: curriculum development (not just lesson planning); adding a major new set of teaching skills; learning a major new area of content to teach; peer evaluation, peer mentoring, and/or systematic supervision; conducting classroom and other kinds of research; writing a journal article; learning to use -- and integrate -- new technology for student learning; or adding a new dimension to the role of teacher such as counselor, public policy advocate, assessment specialist, or LD specialist.
- 4) Attending workshops, conferences, and short courses is encouraged, but this is regarded as less important than the more significant professional development activities (like those listed in 4 above) which are sustained over time.
- 5) Professional development evaluation is regarded as important. Teachers are asked to show evidence that they have acquired new skills and knowledge described in the goals of their professional development plans. Programs look at evidence of improved student learning, and evidence of links between teacher professional development and those new learning gains.
- 6) Creativity, constructivist (project-based) and other unconventional approaches, and teachers' insights about their own and other teachers' professional growth are valued by administrators and teachers.
- 7) Written program policies address 1-6.
How can State Education Agencies (SEAs) support programs' creation of or maintenance of a program professional development environment?
SEAs can:
- 1) Build in sufficient paid time for teachers and administrators to engage in 1-5 above
- 2) Provide tuition reimbursement for PD, as many K-12 public school systems do
- 3) require teachers to have PD plans, and monitor programs to see that these are real and meaningful to teachers and to the program
- 4) Ask programs to systematically set and evaluate program improvement goals, and as part of their program improvement plans to describe the role, resources and major activities of PD which will enable teachers to acquire the needed knowledge and skills.
- 5) Value creativity, constructivist (project-based) and other unconventional approaches, teachers' insights about their own and other teachers' professional growth.
- 6) Write state-level policies which address 1-5.
David J. Rosen
djrosen_at_comcast.net
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:2014] Re: Professional Development Recommendations
From:Nickie Askov, Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy, Penn State
David, great response! Being at Penn State, I like your recognition of the importance of credits that can be applied to graduate degrees as part of a professional development plan. We are so pleased that the KY Department of Education (Adult Ed.) has been supporting 10 teachers to take courses in our Certificate in Family Literacy <www.worldcampus.psu.edu/pub/famlt/> offered through the Penn State World Campus. I am assuming that this effort is part of a teacher's overall professional development plan. We would welcome other states to do likewise and consider higher education as part of professional development in adult education. Nickie Askov, Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy, Penn State
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:2015] Draft policy platform, AALPD
From:jataylor_at_utk.edu
NIFL-AALPD Subscribers, Please see the draft PD policy platform below. This is only a draft, and we welcome your comments, criticisms, reflections, questions, clarifications, improvements, additions and ideas in an effort to create a list of PD policy options that represents the field's view.
The final list of draft PD policies will go to the AALPD Pre-Conference at COABE where participants will explore these issues in greater depth.
Ultimately the final product -- a list of recommendations for improving teacher working conditions and supporting teachers to access and benefit from professional development -- will be offered to state directors as they consider these issues while developing their state plans. We hope that the final version of these policy positions will also be supported by other organizations in the field (we would hope to incorporate such positions into policy platforms by, for example, the National Coalition for Literacy, an organization that advocates for supportive legislation and funding in our field).
What do you think about the draft below? What needs to be improved or changed? What are your policy recommendations?
Please see below, Jackie Taylor, List Moderator, NIFL-AALPD, jataylor@utk.edu
============================
Goal:
The adoption of policies at the national, state and local level that support adult basic education, adult ESOL, and adult secondary education practitioners (including program directors) to access and benefit from professional development sufficient to help them be effective teachers, tutors and administrators.
Policies in Support of Adequate and Effective Professional Development:
1) Paid Professional Development Release Time: Every teacher practitioner should have a minimum of 2.5% of their annual working time as paid professional development (e.g., a full-time teacher, working 40 hours a week at 40 weeks a year—summers and holidays off—would work 1600 hours a year, so 2.5% would equal 40 hours of paid professional development a year (equivalent to 5 paid days).
2) Expectations for Participation in Professional Development: Every program and state should set and publicize the expectation that all teachers, no matter how experienced, must have a relevant professional development plan and are expected to continue learning throughout their careers.
3) Professional Development Plans: Each program should be funded at 1% of its annual staff hours to conduct a process for teachers to develop an annual professional development plan that dovetails with the program’s improvement process (which starts from students’ needs for improvements in instruction and services). All teachers should be required to have PD plans, and programs should be monitored to see that these are real and meaningful to teachers and to the program.
4) Participation in Program Improvement: A minimum of 2.0% of each program's budget should be set aside for teachers to participate in program improvement [such as designing a new curriculum (not just lesson planning), recruiting, designing a new student orientation, etc.], that starts with the students' needs for improving program structures and services. Programs should systematically set and evaluate program improvement goals, and as part of their program improvement plans to describe the role, resources and major activities of PD which will enable teachers to acquire the needed knowledge and skills.
5) Teacher Evaluation: Programs should conduct a teacher performance evaluation that asks teachers to show evidence that they have acquired new skills and knowledge described in the goals of their professional development plans.
6) Tuition reimbursement: Programs should be funded to provide tuition reimbursement at the equivalent of one college course per semester to teachers who have higher education attainment as a part of their professional development plans.
7) Relevance of Professional Development Activities: Every state literacy resource center or professional development system/agency and every program must use the professional development plans of the practitioners in their state or program to plan professional development activities relevant to teachers’ and (ultimately) students’ needs.
8) Orientation for New Teachers: Every new teacher should have an orientation to teaching in the field of adult basic education within the first 6 months of their teaching. Orientations include an introduction to adult learning and a brief history/overview of the funding, structure, institutions and history of the field, as well as basic training in curriculum development, lesson planning, and teaching reading, writing, math, and speaking skills for the types of adult learners that teacher serves most frequently.
9) Access: Every practitioner should have access to professional development, throughout the year, both inside and outside of his/her program, and every practitioner should have access to a variety of types of professional development (conferences, workshops, study circles, etc.) on a variety of content, organized at a variety of times and locations, including on-line options.
10) Professional Development System: Each state should have a funded state literacy resource center or other agency that provides direct professional development to practitioners AND technical assistance to help programs organize in-house professional development.
11) Quality of Professional Development: Facilitators of professional development should have completed some preparation (a course or other type of training) about the research-based principles of effective professional development design and facilitation, and every facilitator should be observed at least once conducting training and provided feedback about his/her design and facilitation skills.
12) Teachers’ Working Conditions: In addition to paid professional development release time, programs should have sufficient resources to fund adequate working conditions that will allow teachers to make change as a result of the professional development they attend, including:
- Benefits for all teachers (including part-time),
- paid prep time for all teachers (including part-time),
- access for all teachers to at least one hour a week of sharing time with either colleagues or a coordinator who supports their teaching, and
- at least monthly mechanisms (staff meetings, meetings with director) for voicing their input/decision making within the program.
13) Teachers’ Involvement in the Field of Adult Education: Every practitioner should receive at least 1% of their annual working time to participate in activities as a member of the field, including:
- providing professional development to other teachers inside or outside of the program,
- working towards addressing students’ needs (transportation, child care, health services, job assistance, etc.) that may prevent students from participating in the program, and
- building community partnerships (with the health care system, K-12 system, libraries, local businesses, career centers, etc.) to improve services to adult learners.
Examples/Recommendations
A) Examples of Professional Development Activities:
Build in sufficient paid time for teachers and administrators to engage in professional development activities as a part of paid professional development release time:
- 1) Encourage participation in substantive PD, such as: adding a major new set of teaching skills; learning a major new area of content to teach; peer evaluation, peer mentoring, and/or systematic supervision; conducting classroom and other kinds of research; writing a journal article; learning to use -- and integrate -- new technology for student learning; or adding a new dimension to the role of teacher such as counselor, public policy advocate, assessment specialist, or LD specialist.
- 2) Encourage participation in workshops, conferences, and short courses, but consider this as a lesser priority than participation in more significant professional development activities (like those listed in 1 above) which are sustained over time.
B) Examples for Establishing Expectations to Participate in PD:
Administrators, including supervisors, and other colleagues can encourage teachers to grow professionally, for example, by providing paid work time for PD, by including PD activities as part of a teacher job description, by putting PD on the agenda at staff meetings, and by setting aside a time (a day a month, for example) for PD work and staff discussion about it.
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:2016] Re: Draft policy platform, AALPD
From:Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson, Austin, TX
I do have to say that as I read through this policy position, I was a little concerned that it was not always clear to me what the intended outcome was. Is AALPD trying to define it's policy statement on adequate and effective PD, or are we trying to formulate policy that state's could adopt for the field? The answer here, I think, could change the goal listed below.
If the goal is to "AALPD will promote professionalism in the field of adult education and family literacy" then I see some key strategies falling out that could be formulated into state or local program policy. AALPD's policy statement would be something like:
Goal: AALPD will promote professionalism in the field of adult education and family literacy
OBJ 1: AAPLD will work with federal, state and local programs to craft and/or adopt policies that support the following strategies:
- A) increase the quality of PD available to the field
--fund statewide literacy resource center or other association that creates PD resources and materials, trains trainers, and connects research to practice --work with higher education to conduct research in effective teacher training for TESOL, ABE, and ASE
- B) increase opportunities to participate in PD
-- statewide and program-level PD events --state, regional and national forums, conferences and other PD events --develop experienced instructors to increase the capacity for training
- C) encourage development of PD plans
--require an annual PD plan for teachers, at all levels of experience --1% of funds allocated by programs to support the process of PD
- D) fund PD plans through a variety of mechanisms
-- 2.5% of funds allocated by programs to pay teachers to participate in PD --tuition reimbursement for post-secondary and/or graduate coursework
- E) advocate for stronger federal, state, and program policies that result in
the professionalism of the field.
OBJ 2: AALPD will conduct activities through its membership that continues the dialogue on professional development.
-- a couple of key strategies here that are linked to A, B, C and D from above--
Maybe not in this order but this wasn't a thorough analysis -- I might be totally off-kilter on this... Thanks for the opportunity to comment, Jackie. I wish I were going to COABE to hear the discussion!
Varshna Narumanchi-Jackson
Austin, TX
Subject:RE: [NIFL-AALPD:2015] Draft policy platform, AALPD
From:susanfinn_miller_at_iu13.org
Greetings, I've been working in the professional development system in Pennsylvania, for the past ten years or so, and I was pleased that Jackie Taylor asked me to respond to the professional development policy proposal. First of all, I think it's an important exercise to imagine what an ideal PD system would look like. If we were able to design a professional development system around these recommendations, it would surely be a huge step forward.
I don't have a lot of time to carefully craft my thoughts, so I'll just throw out a few rambling ideas that I've been thinking about in light of what I see in this policy statement. Perhaps some part might stimulate further discussion.
In Pennsylvania, we have attempted to tie professional development to both program improvement plans and individual's professional development plans. I think we have had some degree of success in this attempt in certain arenas, but the complexity of the system makes this quite challenging. In my experience, much depends on the role of the program manager and how well that person works with his or her staff as well as how well we professional development staff work with our programs. I'll offer just one example of how the role of professional development staff varies according to the diverse needs. Depending on the size of an agency, an important goal might be to build the capacity within a program so that staff members and teachers can provide professional development for one another. When building capacity within an agency is the goal, professional development staff play a critically different role compared to when we are supporting practitioners directly.
A related area that might also be addressed in these policy recommendations is strengthening the professional development system through integrating professional development for professional developers, both as individuals and as a system. In other words, I would like to see a structure which allowed us/required us to plan for focused improvement. This is an area that has generally not been taken up in any structured way in our state. One area of need that I have observed and felt personally is in the area of mentoring and coaching. As a professional developer, I would welcome the opportunity to refine my skills in these areas, ideally through focused inquiry. I want to improve and deepen my own reflection skills, which I am hopeful, would transfer to my efforts to support practitioners.
As a white, middle class, educated person, I find that I must continually examine my own assumptions; and I want to effectively support practitioners in doing the same. For me, this is one of the central issues in my work as a professional development specialist and teacher educator. While issues of race, class, culture, and gender are central to all education, these issues are even more present in adult literacy. I feel a keen need to find ways to explore these issues safely with the practitioners I work with day to day.
Another area of need, which has been discussed at some length, is the issue and efficacy of ongoing professional development. The language used in these recommendations could reflect what we think we know about the need for different kinds of support as practitioners move along the continuum from novice to expert. All along this continuum, we all need sustained support to learn and to continuously improve our practice.
Comments are welcome.
Susan
Susan Finn Miller
Lancaster Lebanon IU 13 Adult & Family Literacy
Southeast Professional Development Center
1110 Enterprise Road
East Petersburg, PA 17520
Phone: 717-519-1007
Fax: 717-560-6150
susanfinn_miller_at_iu13.org
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:2018] effective options: integrating PD and PI
From:Lenore Balliro
What have program directors and others found to be the most effective options that integrate PD and PI?
As a former staff developer and program coordinator, I have found
well-designed and implemented teacher observation projects one of the
most effective strategies for integrating professional development and
program improvement. Often, teachers from the same program attend
workshops off-site and talk about their practice, but neither of them
has ever seen the other in action. When teachers pair up (voluntarily)
to observe each other in the classroom, things become real. The teachers
can meet beforehand and generate guiding questions for each other.
During certain observations, the observer may be looking at things the
teacher wants to know about her teaching; at another observation, the
observer may be looking for things she wants to know how to do better
herself (give directions, set up pair activities, etc). After a few
observations back and forth, teachers can meet and discuss their
reflections. In addition to learning more about each others' teaching,.
participants learn more about the students in each level and can work
with realistic benchmarks for assessment. Questions generated from the
observation project often lead to reading professional literature about
a particular topic, to classroom research projects or to program
specific ideas for improvement--, (an overhaul of a curriculum unit, an
investigation of better assessment tools,etc.) A peer-based approach
like this removes the pressure of evaluation; observations are done in
the spirit of inquiry and knowledge building.
To implement a simple process like this, teachers need to be able to
take time out of their own teaching to observe one another. An outside
staff developer can come in to act as a substitute teacher for
participants who are observing, or the program coordinator can
substitute. When the coordinator acts as sub, there is an added benefit
for the coordinator, who rarely has a chance to work directly with
students. . When we did a project like this at the ALRI in Boston, I
worked with ESOL teachers in this manner. We established process,
protocols, time line,etc, and I also took the teachers classes as a
substitute. As a staff developer, it was great to get back into the
classroom and make teaching issues real again. New teachers benefited
from one on one technical assistance while preparing lessons with me to
teach.
As always, teachers need to be paid an adequately supported for their staff and professional development time, and a designated person in the program should be identified as cooridnator of program development.
Lenore Balliro
Editor/Field Notes
SABES
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:2026] RE: effective options: integrating PD and PI From:Erik Jacobson
Much of which is described below fits with the idea of "lesson study" - a common practice in Japanese education. I have always wondered how wide spread it was in the States, and how we can better support it.
Here is a link to a university in the States that is looking at "lesson study."
Sorry, here is the link I had in mind, plus another one.
http://www.lessonresearch.net/
http://www.tc.edu/lessonstudy/
Erik Jacobson
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:2030] role of professional development staff
From:jataylor_at_utk.edu
Hello again all, Susan, you wrote: "I'll offer just one example of how the role of professional development staff varies according to the diverse needs. Depending on the size of an agency, an important goal might be to build the capacity within a program so that staff members and teachers can provide professional development for one another. When building capacity within an agency is the goal, professional development staff play a critically different role compared to when we are supporting practitioners directly."
I'm wondering, are there other significant roles of the professional developer (like providing direct PD and technical assistance) that support teachers in benefiting from professional development?
All for now,
Jackie
Jackie Taylor, NIFL-AALPD List Moderator, jataylor@utk.edu
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:2034] RE: role of professional development staff
From:Janet Isserlis
Jackie, Susan, Lenore and all
Thanks for reminding us of what things look like, of the specificities underlying the policy statements encapsulated within the draft you've sent around.
Teacher observation and peer feedback, mentoring and the like are things that I'm guessing many of us have thought of, but perhaps haven't undertaken as fully as we'd like for a number of reasons. Without support from program directors (who can function as gatekeepers or allies; as business managers, with little adult ed experience or as colleagues who want to learn while also being responsible for the day to day operations of a program) - without that support, there is little hope for teachers to have the time to plan and effectively use a strategy like observation. I've offered it to programs in Rhode Island since forever; few have participated, I think, because structurally we're just not there yet. Folks are interested, but somehow it doesn't happen. Lenore's description, though, is a very timely reminder of a powerful way of tapping into teacher knowledge to build capacity in a particular way.
As well, professional developers do need to play a number of roles under the broader frame of "professional development."
Sometimes, our work is structural - working as facilitators to help programs talk things out, in terms of curriculum, program design, structure/policies (e.g. open entry/exit as opposed to fixed registrations) - to pose the questions that folks in programs might have thought about but are too deeply entrenched in the details to be able to see them as clearly as someone who understands the issues more broadly might be able to do. This combination of specifc program knowledge coupled with big picture understandings of a professional developer holds great promise. We all know something - you know how your program works specifically; I understand a few things about adult ed - how can we, then, together, find solutions that speak to your strengths and abilities while also moving your forward as a program?
Susan's reminder to us, too , about power dynamics - earned and unearned privilege, and the critical need for respect among colleagues has not come amiss.
The policy document itself is useful not only on this list, but to bring to programs, to face-to-face meetings, to spark conversations that might flesh out what these recommendations mean to practitioners in their day to day work. Integrating PD as part of the work teachers do might be an important way to frame some of this, too. To say upfront, "welcome, here's your job spec, welcome to the program, you'll notice that part of your work includes planning for and partiicpating in professional development. And of course, you'll be paid for that time, too. " I want to say "well paid" - and I will. These *are* recommendations, no?
"Welcome. You'll be well paid. And we hope and expect that you'll work with us to flesh out your own PD plan as well as work with us to address our needs and strengths as a program."
Janet Isserlis
Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:2037] RE: Draft policy platform, AALPD
From: Steve Reuys
I have a few comments regarding the draft Professional Development policy platform. (Just by way of background, let me say that I've been doing this sort of work for over twenty years now at the Adult Literacy Resource Institute (the Greater Boston Regional Support Center for the Massachusetts SABES system), for most of this time as Staff Development Coordinator and more recently as Coordinator of the A.L.R.I.) Most of the platform, I think, is very good, but I do have reservations or comments about about a few of the items:
7) Having PD agencies use the professional development plans of practitioners certainly sounds good and makes a lot of sense, but it can be very difficult to do in real time. PD organizations must often plan their work and their activities far in advance and it may be hard to base a PD organization's workplan for a given year on the professional development plans that practitioners may be developing at more or less the same time. To make this work, we'd need to look at the time frame for the development of practitioner professional development plans and at the time frame under which PD organizations are being expected to develop their workplans and figure out how it might be possible for the one to inform the other.
8) Providing an Orientation for New Staff makes sense and we've been doing it in Massachusetts for many years now. One of the things we've learned, though, is that we can only do so much in what is for us a 15-hour orientation. Realistically, it can only serve as a "survey course," a very broad, but not at all deep, overview of many aspects of the field. Ours includes an introduction to adult learning and to the field, and does touch on curriculum, assessment, lesson planning, and many other topics, but it can't deal with any of these topics in depth, and can't serve as basic training in teaching reading, writing, math, ESOL, etc. We encourage participants to see the Orientation as a first step in their staff development, as a stepping stone from which they will go on to do other forms of more in-depth staff development in these areas.
11) I don't know that it is realistic to say that all presenters/facilitators of PD should complete a preparation course and be observed. It would be nice if this could happen, but I just don't think it's always possible or that it necessarily always makes sense. How important it is I think it very much depends on who the presenter is, what the nature of the activity is, what the timing of the activity is, and various other factors.
12) Improving funding and working conditions in the field is crucial. Not only do working conditions affect the ability and willingness of staff to participate in staff development, but they also have very much to do with the high turnover rate among staff in the ABE field. So long as turnover remains as high as it is, doing staff and program development work is a great deal like running very hard just to stay in place. And, at the end, Example A deals with what is, for me, one of the major conundrums facing those of us who do professional development in ABE. We believe, and research tends to confirm, that more substantive, more intensive, more long-term forms of PD are more likely to be effective and to result in real change in practice. However, not only do these types of activities require greater resources to conduct well, but it is also very often much more difficult for staff and programs to commit to participating in them, given the multitude of demands and expectations placed upon them, and we continue to hear that what practitioners prefer are single-session workshops and other types of short-term activities. It's very important that we think about and try to find creative solutions to this conflict.
Thanks very much for the opportunity to comment on the recommendations.
Steve Reuys, Coordinator
Adult Literacy Resource Institute
University of Massachusetts Boston
Wheatley Bldg., room 04-167
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393
617-287-4071
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:2040] CEUs/Teacher evaluation From:Melva Abdullah
The following post is from Melva Abdullah. Melva, in addition to the questions you raise, you write that teacher evaluation should include determining the impact of PD on student performance. Is that something programs already do (a program responsibility)? Is that a question for states to research (a state responsibility)? Or both? What do others think?
Best, Jackie
Here are some suggestions when developing policies for professional development that we should look at state professional development teams:
For those states who are located in colleges/universities: How are continuing education units/Carnegie units (CEUs) awarded for teachers in professional development? Is this an option? Who out there is doing this? If so, we can award CEUs to those teachers who receive X number of hours of professional development and also receive XX number of CEUs toward a degree and/or meet other professional development requirements for a degree.
In addition, states should evaluate whether or not instructors have made gains in their level of knowledge and skill from professional development, and how they were able to transfer what they have learned from their own classroom participation to improving student performance. (Determining the impact of professional development on student performance).
Just thinking of a few things. I'll email you later.
Melva Abdullah
Technical Specialist/Grant Writer
UDC State Education Agency, AE
4200 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 274-6680
(202) 274-7188 (fax)
email: mabdullah@dcadultliteracy.org
Subject: RE: [NIFL-AALPD:2040] CEUs/Teacher evaluation
From: Katrina Hinson <khinson_at_future-gate.com>
Melva had some interesting comments and I wanted to reply to a few of them: I'm not exactly sure how CEU's are awarded in North Carolina. What I do know now, after asking alot of questions is that all adult education instructors here are supposed to have 12 hours of Professional Development. Additionally, one university here, has partnered with the state to provide two, week long training sessions during the Spring - It's called the Adult Basic Skills Professional Development Institute. Because it's provided through the university, those who undertake the program (it's a 3 year committment at the end of which those who have completed the cycle will become Certified Resource Specialists) will also earn 3 Credits that can be applied to an advanced degree should they so desire. The idea behind the Institute is to train the trainer. We're supposed to return to our own campuses/areas and provide training based on what we learned during institute as well as use what we've learned in our classrooms and in future training events. It's an intense week - including homework prior to arriving and classes go from like 8 AM to 8 PM. I also think, although I'm not sure, that some of the larger workshops provided by the state, do provide CEU's to the instructor attending, but I'm not sure how it's applied or decided. I want to say that it's X# of CEU's for every Y# of hours, but I'm not certain of the actual numbers.
I like Melva's question regarding relating Professional Development to student performance. I don't think we do that here in NC yet or at least not at the school where I work. I do think it would be an interesting thing to undertake but I'm wondering how you'd measure the impact. It would seem that it would require alot of knowledge about a teachers performance prior to professional development as well as alot of observation of the teacher after the professional development and or directly asking students that were present before and after if they recognized a change. Or, would it just be a matter of looking at say student performance on an assessment, before and after the professional development. I think there are alot of questions that would have to be addressed before you can make direct ties between professional development and student performance even though the result of professional development should be professional growth that translates to improvement in instruction in the classroom.
Just some thoughts.
Katrina Hinson
Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:2042] comments on recommendations 3 & 4
From: Marcia Drew Hohn, Ed.D.
This message is from Marcia Drew Hohn in Massachusetts on recommendations 3 & 4 having to do with linking individual teacher's professional development plans with program improvement goals. I am commenting from my 12 years of experience as one of the regional directors for SABES (System for Adult Basic Education Support) in Massachusetts.
I was happy to see this recommendation for linking program and staff development because staff development that is connected to a meaningful and purposeful context for teachers (improving structures and services for learners) is likely to enhance the learning experience. It also promotes sharing across staff and a program envinronment to support transfer into practice.
I have seen this work in both big and small ways. Some programs have undertaken big initiatives such as putting a health content focus across the curriculum. Everyone was involved in a variety of ways -- discussion of underlying philosophy, gathering input from students about what health areas, attending training on how to integrate health conent, visiting other programs that had done similar work, investigating resources for health information etc. before they even got to the point of developing the actual curriculum. It was a two year process and is still evolving. Other programs have taken on more modest initiatives such as instituting an attendance policy as a retention strategy or piloting a writing program in selected classrooms. But they involved similar processes. Teachers attended appropriate training, reviewed research, talked with other programs and practitioners, and gathered input from students which was shared and discussed across the program. Again, the learning experience was powerful because it was purposeful, shared and supported by the program.
Some cautions -- This doesn't mean that all staff development has to be linked directly to program improvement goals. There should be room for staff development that enhances an individual practitioner's skills or helps them develop a special interest. It can be connected to the program through collegial sharing or under the general umbrella of improving instructional quality.
Moreover, linking program and staff development assumes that the program has a viable planning process to set the program improvement goals and that process is known to teachers and they are involved with it. It has been my experience that programs struggle with this. Many program directors do not have planning experience and skills to lead the process. Likewise, staff are not used to being involved in setting organizational goals and in teamwork. And, of course, time and financial resources for program planning are usually limited.
However, I do think it is a powerful staff development approach and I affirm these recommendations. I also believe that the student voice needs to be heard in setting program improvement goals. I was happy to see that there will be an in-depth discussion of student involvement and leadership in next week's discussion.
Marcia Drew Hohn, Ed.D.
Director of Public Education and Civic Outreach
Immigrant Learning Center
442 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148
781-322-9777
Subject:[NIFL-AALPD:2044] PD Policies: teacher-driven PD
From:jataylor_at_utk.edu
Hello Everyone, Even though we have an upcoming discussion of learner leadership, I encourage you to still reflect upon the PD policy platform, and post your feedback between now and COABE. Here's another one (group) of policies that David suggested in an email last week. I've been tinkering with them a bit as well; they seem to address the larger issue of the tendency for over-reliance on top-down driven PD initiatives.
How can we assure the space teachers need to explore their own questions/issues/goals, engage in research, and create products that address their needs? How can we assure that teacher-driven PD issues get adequate time?
Maybe David and I have a start? I encourage you to share your thoughts and refinements:
13) Creativity and the Flexibility to Implement Change:
Programs or SEAs should seek out teachers' opinions and evaluate the extent to which teachers feel they have to be creative in teaching and professional development; and the degree of flexibility they feel they have to make changes in practice (permission to make change). Teachers could give examples of what creativity in PD looks like and what flexibility to make change looks like when it is supported.
14) Teacher-Driven Professional Development:
States should fund programs X% to set aside resources for field-driven issues that address the teacher's concerns, and result in a product developed and/or research conducted by the teacher. Ex: Constructivist, needs-based, project-based, action research-oriented, product-oriented professional development
15) Valuing Teachers' Insights About Their Professional Growth:
- Teachers should be asked to set their own professional development goals for their PD plans and then these are negotiated with their supervisors. At the end of the negotiation teachers, when asked, agree that their views have been listened to and respected, and that some of their own goals are included in the plan.
- Teachers should be asked to self-evaluate their professional development experiences against those goals
- Teachers should be asked to evaluate what has been most and least useful to them (over time) in professional development activities and how they know.
To view the draft policy platform in full, visit: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/PDPolicyPlatformUpdates
Jackie
Jackie Taylor, NIFL-AALPD List Moderator, jataylor@utk.edu
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Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:2046] PD policies
From: Andy Nash
Jackie, Before the new discussion begins on student leadership in PD, I'd like to chime in on a few of the proposed PD policies.
Regarding the policies related to teachers (the expectation that they participate in PD, that they be evaluated, etc.), I think we should consider including program administrators and counselors in that recommendation. Many administrators are hungry for PD (on supervision, for example), as well, and their decisions certainly impact the extent to which teachers can implement new ideas.
On #11, which is about PD for professional developers, I agree with others that a course about research-based principles of effective PD doesn't quite capture what's necessary. For example, it wouldn't help us get at core PD concerns, such as reflecting on our assumptions and practices through the prisms of race, class, culture, and gender (as Susan suggested), and it wouldn't help us understand the application of research and theory to practice, which is at the center of our work. For that, I think we might want to edge toward a policy of expecting professional developers to get back into the classroom periodically.
I fully support access to varied kinds of PD (#9). For all the bad press that single-session workshops get, I think they serve a particular function in terms of inspiring practitioners to try new techniques that can lead to greater changes. I remember, for example, getting excited about using photographs in my teaching and then that leading to a variety of projects, better integration of skills, etc.
Finally, some folks have recommended that evaluation of PD be linked to student outcomes. This feels dangerous to me, as there are too many intervening factors (out of our control) that affect whether or not effective professional development is transferred to practice. For example, a program might choose to organize a single workshop about a topic even though we have recommended a series or a study circle. Or we might do PD about the use of authentic materials but the program directors continue to use their materials budget to buy only textbooks. I believe we should be evaluated for the direct impact of our work, but not the indirect impact.
Thanks for inviting this discussion,
Andy Nash
NELRC/World Education
Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:2047] RE: PD policies From: Janet Isserlis
Andy and all
Excellent points.
To follow up, briefly,
> ... I agree with others that a course about research-based principles of effective PD
> doesn't quite capture what's necessary. For example, it wouldn't help us
> get at core PD concerns, such as reflecting on our assumptions and
> practices through the prisms of race, class, culture, and gender (as
> Susan suggested), and it wouldn't help us understand the application of
> research and theory to practice, which is at the center of our work. For
> that, I think we might want to edge toward a policy of expecting
> professional developers to get back into the classroom periodically.
I wonder, too, if by classroom, we also have space to consider the ways in which participation in discussions such as these and online learning constitute some form of learning, but also agree that face to face interaction with others is critical to learning - regardless of/in addition to other vehicles for learning/learning styles.
Andy also reminds of the power of one-shot workshops when they resonate with us - and/or when there's some sort of follow up (discussion with colleagues after the workshop, sharing of materials from the workshop, etc.)
Andy's post really captures some of the very essential elements of the work of professional development; I look forward to seeing what develops from the next phase of this discussion regarding intentional consideration of collaboration with and consideration of students' voices.
Janet Isserlis
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