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Teachers are key to standards-based reform. The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) reports that "what teachers know and can do makes the crucial difference in what children learn."
 
Standards-based education requires teachers to make huge shifts in how they think about and what they do daily in their classrooms. Teachers are no longer in sole control of who they teach, what they teach, when they teach it, and how to assess satisfactory achievement. These decisions are now made by the states. They decide what students need to know and be able to do, decide when those standards will be assessed and what proficiency looks like on the state assessments. Teachers can choose to do more but they dare not do less. Furthermore, NCLB requires that all children achieve proficiency.



What do teachers need to know and do?
Teachers in standards-based school systems must be able to address content standards outcomes, prepare students for standards-based assessments, design lessons that cover complex content and result in thorough student understanding, and ensure that all students achieve. Teachers need to collaboratively examine student work, analyze achievement data and use the information to inform their instruction. They need to know where each of their students is on the content standards indicators to move each student to proficiency. Though it would appear to be common sense, a missing practice in many schools is that grade level teams or departments of teachers reach consensus on how they will define proficient work at their grade level or in their course. Teachers must be able to understand the characteristics of proficiency, how to recognize it in their students' work, how to diagnose where students have a less than proficient understanding, and what to do to address their needs. In essence, teachers must focus on the cognitive and knowledge domains of their lessons in order to gain a thorough understanding of what they expect from their students and how they will know it when they see it.
 
For example, current reforms in mathematics and science instruction reflect an increased emphasis on students' thinking. Thompson and Zeuli describe "thinking to learn" as the heart of reforms in mathematics and science. "By 'think,' we mean that students must actively try to solve problems, resolve dissonances between the way they initially understand a phenomenon and new evidence that challenges that understanding, put collections of facts or observations together into patterns, make and test conjectures, and build lines of reasoning about why claims are or are not true."
 
Thompson and Zeuli believe that professional development aimed at changing teachers' knowledge, beliefs and practices should have the following requirements:
 
  • "The creation of cognitive dissonance between teachers' current beliefs and practices and their experiences with student learning
  • Sufficient time to work through the dissonance through discussion and critical thinking
  • The connection of these cognitive activities to teachers' contexts of practice, for example through examining student work
  • The development of a repertoire of practices consistent with teachers' new understanding about what reforms require
  • Help with transferring teachers' new knowledge to the classroom through practice and peer support"

What is effective staff development?
Because teacher preparation institutions are only beginning to align their programs with K-12 content standards and the shift from teaching to evidence of learning, the majority of teachers in the US have to learn how to teach in a standards-based system through inservice activities.
 
A study by Hawley and Valli suggests that there is increasing agreement about changes that are needed in teacher professional development for standards-based reforms driven by the following factors:
  • Research on school improvement that links change to professional development
  • Growing agreement that students should be expected to achieve higher standards of performance, which include a capacity for complex and collaborative problem solving
  • Research on learning and teaching that reaches substantially different conclusions about how people learn from those that have shaped contemporary strategies for instruction and assessment
  • Research that confirms the widespread belief that conventional strategies for professional development are ineffective and wasteful and that provides support for the adoption of different ways to facilitate professional learning.
A chapter from a McREL report, Standards in Classroom Practice: Research Synthesis, summarizes the findings from major studies that examined the impact of professional development on teaching practices and student learning. They found that the research converged on the following conclusions. Professional development is more likely to have positive impacts on teacher and student learning if it has the following research based features:
  • Focuses on a content area with direct links to the curriculum
  • Challenges teachers intellectually through reflection and critical problem solving
  • Aligns with goals and standards for student learning
  • Is of sufficient duration for practice and revision
  • Occurs collaboratively within a teacher learning community
  • Involves all the teachers within a school or department
  • Provides active learning opportunities that have direct applications to the classroom
  • Is based on teachers' input regarding their learning needs National education organizations add that professional development should have the following characteristics:
  • Driven by results in student performance
  • Ongoing and embedded in the daily lives of teachers
  • Helps teachers meet the needs of students who are at different developmental levels and who have diverse backgrounds"
Across research studies, consensus has also developed about the importance of collaboration to achieve change in teacher practices and ultimately students' achievement. Darling-Hammond asserts that "teachers learn best by studying, doing, and reflecting; by collaborating with other teachers; by looking closely at students and their work; and by sharing what they see." Eisenhower studies found that "collective participation of teachers from the same grade or department provides more active learning opportunities for the participants compared to traditional approaches."
 
Both researchers and national organizations including NFIE and NSDC have proposed principles for designing professional development that aligns with these conclusions. The National Staff Development Council (NSDC) has released a revised set of standards for high quality staff development on their Web site.
 

Where should you focus professional development?
The purpose of teacher professional development is to change teachers' practices in ways that improve learning. Focusing on student learning rather than teaching practices is a relatively new concept. Examining student work leads teachers to recognize the consequences of their teaching and the possible gap between what they believe they taught and what students learned.
 
You cannot provide teachers all the training you or they think they need in a timely manner. Therefore, professional development is yet another resource that needs to be sharply focused on what teachers need to know and do to improve student achievement in your school improvement priority areas. In the game plan we have presented, staff need to be able to identify where each student is in relation to the content standard indicators. Focusing on this need will include the following possible areas for professional development.
 

What do teachers need to know to determine where their students are in relation to the content standard indicators?
  • the intent (knowledge and cognitive domains) of the content standard indicators
  • how to align instruction and assessment with content standard indicators
  • what proficiency looks like and how to reach consensus as a grade level team on what defines proficiency
  • how to create opportunities for students to demonstrate proficiency
  • how to interpret student performance
  • how to monitor progress
  • how to analyze monitoring data
  • how to examine student work
  • how to identify implications for instruction based on the data
  • how to use data to plan interventions
Earlier, we suggested that principals assess where their school and staff are in understanding and doing these critical actions. That information will help you know where to focus school wide or team staff development. You need to map these needs against what you have asked teachers to do in their team or department meetings — examine monitoring data and student work to inform instruction — and make sure you embed the necessary staff development in the process. For example, if a team leader did not know how to facilitate a discussion about the examining data, then you (or someone you would delegate) would need to train team leaders and model the process. Sometimes, modeling the process is all the team leader needs as long as you provide coaching for the team leader while he/she practices, reflects and revises skills and understandings.
 
You are now ready to map out a game plan and a calendar for providing professional development that meets your identified needs. You will find that mapping the staff development strategies and activities across the school year will serve as a reality check on how you've scheduled the activities as well as help staff understand the over-all game plan.
 
Whereas many districts and schools focus on teaching, the focus of this professional development is on evidence of learning. Pre-service training in how to teach is much more common than pre-service training in how to collect and use evidence of learning. Consequently, most teachers will need capacity building in how to assess student learning. When you are examining student work, you are both assessing the student's performance as well as examining the quality of the assignment given the student. As Phillip Schlechty, CEO of the Center for Leadership in School Reform says in an interview in the Journal of Staff Development, "Organizing staff development around improving the quality of work we give students rather than improving the teacher's performance in the classroom changes the whole dynamic. When the focus is on improving the experience of students, staff development then takes on a very different character. It is on ongoing invention rather than a canned program, and it is collaborative because teachers and principals need to consider together how they can improve the quality of the work they give students and what the teachers and principals need to learn in order to do that."
 
Another reason to focus professional development in these areas is because you have asked teachers to do these things and many of them will not have had any experience or training in how to do them. You will want to provide training parallel to where teachers are in the process. For example, when they are ready to examine student work, you will need to provide them some guidance in appropriate protocols and purposes for the examination as well as model the process by facilitating (or having someone facilitate) their first examination. This "just in time learning" will ensure that they are implementing the process with adequate support. It will also demonstrate that you are paying attention to the process and value it enough to support it. An outgrowth of the monitoring process is teacher self-identification of their own professional development needs. This is particularly true when teams are examining and discussing student work. Teachers may recognize that they didn't write a prompt that assessed what they thought they were assessing. They recognize that they need training in writing and aligning assessments. Or they might note that their students didn't demonstrate proficiency in how to apply knowledge on a certain indicator and realized they themselves didn't understand the intent of the indicator. You must also have the flexibility to address staff development needs as they arise when teachers are working through the process of monitoring student achievement process and the instructional implications of the data.
 

When and how should you provide staff development?
Principals need to stop looking at staff development days as a series of training sessions and start looking at how to build capacity through job embedded daily experiences. Think about how you learn best. Talk to staff about how they learn. I learn best by having someone model for me. I understand faster and can adapt for my purposes faster when an expert models the process. I retain new knowledge/skills best if I have a real need to practice them. And though I am self-reflective, I stretch farther if I receive feedback from someone focused on my performance. Consequently, if I were a team leader in your school, I would value your modeling what it is you want me to do at a time when I need to do it and your demonstrating you have enough interest in my performance to provide feedback in a collegial manner. If your staff need to increase capacity in examining student work, then you could develop team capacity by having an expert lead the first discussion modeling the protocol and the questioning during the team meeting. The expert could then coach the team leader to lead the same protocol at a subsequent team meeting and serve as a process observer to reflect on performance. Some protocols build in a reflection on how the process went at the end of the session. Or you could have a knowledgeable person model the process for the team leaders at a leadership team meeting and serve as a process observer while the team leader leads the process with his/her team. One of the plusses in "just in time training" is that learners get a chance to practice what they've learned right away. Delivering training during team time right before the team undertakes an activity also maximizes the interest in learning the skill/strategy.
 
You have two important ways of modeling for staff what you want from them. If you have the skill to model the process, you should do so whenever you can. If you do not yet have the skill to lead the process, then you should model the role of learner in a community of learners framework. Your veteran teachers will particularly benefit from seeing another veteran model learning new ways of thinking.
 
Sometimes all teams are charged with implementing a strategy on the same time table for which they need capacity building. In those cases, you might use a staff meeting to both introduce the assignment and provide introductory training.
 
Most schools have some half days or full days provided by the district for professional development. These are usually rare and therefore must be carefully planned to maximize their effectiveness in moving your student achievement agenda. These are days that should be used to extend the capacity building you have undertaken on a daily basis. But rather than use the time to do something that could have been done during team time, choose something that either required more time that the team meetings could accommodate or something that required different configurations of staff, for example, vertical teams or all staff.
 
More important than when you provide staff development is including in your plan time to learn, practice, revise, reflect, and celebrate. Your staff development plan should include opportunities to model and coach, practice and reflect, troubleshoot and revise, and recognize and celebrate. Changing teacher practice will require time to work through these processes and incorporate them into daily activities.
 
The school-wide staff development plan needs to address school-wide needs. However, new teachers, for example, need more support to catch up with training that occurred the year before. Balancing your teams with veterans and novices, strong teacher leaders and less strong teacher leaders will ensure that each team has some leaders to model and mentor other staff. You will also want to schedule some additional training sessions for new or at-risk teachers. You do not want to waste a team's time by using their meeting time to train when only one team member has the need.
 

Resources for Aligning Instruction and Assessment with Content Standards
Online Technical Assistance
 
The National Staff Development Council (NSDC) describes their revised professional development standards on their Web Site. The site includes information on how schools and districts have implemented the standards, a self-assessment for determining if your school or district staff development meets the standards and articles that provide extra guidance for using the standards.
 
Online Articles
 
"Teacher Learning for Standards-based Education," Standards in Classroom Practice: Research Synthesis, McRel 2001 (pages 107-140)
 
Improving Teaching and Learning with Data-Based Decisions. "Asking the right questions and acting on the answers." By Nancy Protheroe in summer 2001 issue of Educational Research Service Spectrum.
 
Hassel, E. (1999). Learning from the best: A toolkit for schools and districts based on model professional development award winners.
 
The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education has published an issue brief on "Using Data about Classroom Practice and Student Work to Improve Professional Development for Educators."
 
Teachers Take Charge of Their Learning is another online publication by The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education. Of particular interest is the chapter and references on "Finding Time To Build Professional Development into the Life of Schools."
 
The Educator, examined: An Interview with Phillip Schlechty in the Journal of Staff Development is an examination of ourselves, our work, and our institutions.
 
Instructional Coherence: The Changing Role of the Teacher by Sandra J. Finley, Ph.D. on the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory Web site.
 


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