Helping Teachers Help All Students:

The Imperative for High-Quality Professional Development

Report of the Maryland Teacher Professional Development Advisory Council

December 2004

Presentation to the Maryland State Board of Education

Impetus for Attention to Professional Development

Consensus that professional development is lynchpin of improvement efforts

Achievement Matters Most calls for alignment of all elements of local school systems to support of teachers and students

Bridge to Excellence Act calls for alignment of all resources to ensure maximum returns as reflected in student learning

No Child Left Behind Act calls for attention to teacher quality and professional development to ensure improvements in student achievement

Impetus for Attention to Professional Development

Since 1995, extensive focus on teacher quality and preservice training with less attention to professional development

In 2004, attention to professional development complements new assessments and Voluntary State Curriculum in Maryland’s reform strategy

State Superintendent of Schools Charged the Professional Development Advisory Council with Three Tasks:

Examine current professional development policies and programs

Define high-quality professional development

Provide recommendations to improve teacher professional development in Maryland

Activities

18 Council meetings (January 2003 – August 2004)

Input from more than 1,000 educators across the state, through ongoing communications

– Constituent feedback on Council discussions and early drafts

– Extensive review and comment on survey

– 72 focus groups reviewed and commented on the new standards

Activities

Survey of Teacher Participation in High-Quality Professional Development

Review of state and local professional development systems

2 reports to the State Superintendent of Schools—both consensus documents

– Presentation of draft standards and recommendations for stakeholder engagement campaign (12/03)

– Helping Teachers Help All Students: Imperative for High-Quality Professional Development (12/04)

Three Working Assumptions Animated and Informed the Work of the Council

Professional development includes a broad range of teacher learning activities (e.g., study groups, curriculum development, membership on school improvement teams, coaching/mentoring, graduate courses, workshops, conferences/professional meetings).

Responsibility for ensuring quality and full access must be shared among all key stakeholders (e.g., teachers, school leaders, district leaders and staff, IHEs, MSDE).

Significant improvements will require decisions about new directions and about what needs to be abandoned.

Teachers Speak Out About Their Professional Development Experiences: The 2004 Survey of Teacher Participation in High Quality Professional Development

Online administration to all teachers

30,000 responses

Focus on five categories of professional development and 17 quality indicators

Three key findings:

– Using Maryland’s rigorous quality criteria (15 of 17 indicators), 44 percent of teachers participated in high-quality professional development

– Eighty-seven percent participated in professional development which reflected 10 or more quality indicators

– Results generally consistent across districts

Mapping the State and Local Infrastructures for Professional Development

Professional development is in transition

MSDE plays a multifaceted role in teacher professional development

Challenges to MSDE include:

– Defining a viable state role in a local process

– Creating and maintaining systems to ensure quality and accountability

Mapping the State and Local Infrastructures for Professional Development

Districts rely on a broad range of approaches to professional development and have limited information about what is paying off

Significant shift toward job-embedded professional development accompanied by new school-based roles

Challenges to districts include:

– Ensuring quality and links to reform priorities

– Getting it all done within perceived time and resource constraints

Introducing the New Maryland Teacher Professional Development Standards

Standards can serve five functions:

– Vision

– Inform planning, design, implementation, evaluation

– Guide alignment with improvement goals

– Inform resource allocation

– Define responsibility and accountability

Three Key Assumptions

Broad definition

Shared responsibility and accountability

Contextual factors

– Learning communities

– Leadership

– Resources

– Consensus about clear expectations for teachers

Standards and Indicators Framework

Maryland standards define nine essential dimensions of high-quality professional development

Indicators under each standard define observable and measurable components of each dimension of quality

Standards and Indicators Framework

Six content standards and related indicators focus on:

– Deepening content knowledge and developing strategies that help students master Maryland content standards (Standard 1)

– Developing knowledge, skills, and disposition to apply research (Standard 2)

– Developing ability to collaborate with colleagues and others to improve instruction (Standard 3)

Standards and Indicators Framework

Six content standards and related indicators focus on:

– Developing understanding and skills to meet diverse student learning needs (Standard 4)

– Developing understanding and skills to create safe, secure and supportive learning environments for all students (Standard 5)

– Developing the knowledge and skills to involve families and others as active members of the school community (Standard 6)

Standards and Indicators Framework

Three process standards and related indicators call for:

– Reliance on analysis of disaggregated data to focus priorities for teacher learning, teacher practice and student learning and to sustain continuous improvement (Standard 7)

– Rigorous evaluation to assess quality, attainment of outcomes, and guide planning (Standard 8)

– Application of adult learning theory and effective practice to design of professional development (Standard 9)

Looking Ahead: Recommendations and Opportunities for Creating A System of High-Quality Professional Development for All Teachers

Recommendations reflect assumptions about the broad range of professional learning that constitutes professional development and the need for shared responsibility and accountability

Recommendations concentrate on enhancing and linking existing system components not on new initiatives, mandates, and layers.

Looking Ahead: Recommendations and Opportunities for Creating A System of High-Quality Professional Development for All Teachers

Overarching recommendation: Use the standards to inform statewide system of high-quality professional development for all teachers

– Adopt standards at state and local levels

– Continue and expand stakeholder engagement to ensure understanding and full implementation and to avoid alignment by assertion

– Four additional recommendations provide a detailed map for the system of professional development

Looking Ahead

Recommendation 1

MSDE should contribute to the development of a statewide system of teacher professional development by ensuring that all of its policies, programs, and initiatives that address teacher professional development explicitly reflect and model the new standards and demand accountability for meeting them.

Recommendation 2

District efforts to improve the quality of teacher professional development should begin with adoption of the new standards and continue with integration of the standards into all efforts to improve instruction and student learning.

Looking Ahead

Recommendation 3

Key stakeholders should work together on five tasks necessary for establishing and maintaining a statewide system of high-quality professional development for all teachers.

Recommendation 4

The State Superintendent of Schools should institutionalize the Professional Development Advisory Council as a standing advisory group

Two Critical Questions (and the Answers)

How long will it take to carry out the Council’s recommendations?

– Early pace of stakeholder engagement will determine later implementation.

– Initial work is underway and could be completed by summer 2005.

– 3-4 years is reasonable estimate for significant progress in all areas.

– Council’s ongoing monitoring and reporting (Recommendation 4) can spur the process.

Two Critical Questions (and the Answers)

How much will it cost?

– Early costs will be in time and could be substantial as state and local staff devote attention to early implementation and use of the standards.

– Some costs, although certainly not all, can be covered by re-allocating existing resources.

– New resources will almost certainly be necessary to support increased capacity and to ensure full access to consistently high-quality professional development.