best practices in professional development
Teachers in your district have traditionally determined what activities they will participate in during district-wide professional development activities; that is, they have been given choices that may not align to student achievement but rather were self-selected based on interests. Unfortunately, there is no evidence to suggest that the current professional development activities at your district/campus have been effective. In fact, most teachers admit the activities are a waste of time.
In this assignment, you are to describe what types of staff and professional development activities have taken place at your district/campus to address student achievement, professional growth, or lack thereof.
You will review the literature on best practices in professional development regarding the link to student achievement and professional growth, and compare it to what has been occurring in your district/campus based on data that you may have access to. Include in your presentation a list of the topics and suggested strategies to consider, as well as the professional development models to be used, and why they would be important to the rationale for change. Reflect on the professional growth of the faculty and how it would be directly related to these professional development activities that would support changes in the current professional development practices at your district/campus.
Develop a PowerPoint presentation in which you will outline the items listed below. Include speakers’ notes. The presentation will be based on the information you analyzed from your campus data, as well as the scholarly literature on best practices, and include the following:
• A description of the scholarly literature and research which suggests effective models of professional development that will address student achievement and professional growth (and how our school is/is not aligning to these models) (Part 1 due Module 2)
• A rationale for change based on all available data on student achievement and professional growth of teachers (and why our school needs to change) (Part 1 due Module 2)
• A plan to change the professional development at your district/campus that addresses the need for student achievement and professional growth of teachers (Part 2 due Module 7)