Professional Development: Imagine Difference Shapes and Sizes Jackie O. Wilson, Ed.D. Presentation for State Affiliates NAESP & NASSP Professional Development Center for Educators College of Education & Human Development University of Delaware

Welcome & Introductions

Agenda 8:15-8:20 Welcome & Introductions 8:20-8:30 The Professional Development Experience 8:30-8:45 Table Talk: Local PD Activities 8:45-9:00 Imagine Different Shapes & Sizes 9:00-9:15 Table Talk: Assessment of Current Practices 9:15-9:20 One Size Does Not Fit All 9:20-9:25 Building Capacity & Partnership 9:25-9:45 Table Talk: Capacity & Partnerships  

What Do Education Leaders Want From A Professional Development Experience? VOICE & CHOICE

What Do Education Leaders Want From A Professional Development Experience?

What Do Education Leaders Want From A Professional Development Experience?

What Do Education Leaders Want From A Professional Development Experience?

What Do Education Leaders Want From A Professional Development Experience?

What Do Education Leaders Want From A Professional Development Experience?

What Do Education Leaders Want From A Professional Development Experience?

What Do Education Leaders Want From A Professional Development Experience?

Opportunities for active learning How interactive and engaging are PD activities? Activities that elicit the most active engagement from participants have a better chance of altering participant behavior. Participants should be as involved as possible with their own learning –select topics that are relevant, collaborate with colleagues, observe each other’s teaching.

What Does Research Say About High Quality Professional Learning Experiences? Standards Based Changes in students results Changes educators skills, knowledge, & dispositions Changes in educator practice

Aligned with School Improvement goals/standards The PD is aligned to the Professional Standards for Education Leaders 2015 and Learning Forward Professional Development Standards All activities should be aligned with school improvement efforts that are tied to real student needs .

Table Talk At your tables, please take a 15 minutes to brainstorm PD activities provided to administrators by your organization. Is the PD aligned to the PSEL Standards 2015 or the 2008 ISLLC standards? Is the PD aligned to Learning Forward’s Standards for Professional Learning (adult learning)?

Imagine Different Shapes & Sizes

Workshops/institutes/seminars Too often PD takes the form of “one-stop” workshops with little follow up. No evidence that these activities either change administrators’ practices or influence teacher behavior, teacher effectiveness, or student achievement. But, can be effective if…..designed to be aligned with broader goals, focused on specific areas of professional growth. What works: Principals participate in a two-week summer institute focused on strategies for providing substantive feedback to teachers related to student engagement. Over the course of the year, principals meet regularly to share information about implementation challenges.

Action research Administrators generate and investigate questions about their own practice. Designed to help administrators participate in their own professional growth. More research is needed to see if action research can have a long-term impact on administrators’ leadership practice What works: Middle school principals are struggling to keep high achieving youth engaged. After collecting and interpreting information on these students’ behaviors and performance, the principals collaborate and conduct a review of relevant professional literature on high achieving youth and develop a research-based plan. The principals implement their plan and document the outcomes.

Case discussions Participants review a story or videotape that captures a particular classroom experience and discuss observations with colleagues When they are well written and facilitated, case discussions encourage participants to look deeply into how instructional practice influences and interacts with student thinking. To be successful they require a leader who can encourage participants to discuss and learn from one another. What works: Principals bring a school team together with other principals and their school teams and work monthly for a few hours to view a series of video cases on differentiating instruction. Some cases focus on student learning, others on how teachers respond to a challenging situation. Principals alternate leading the discussion.

Study groups Principals from same region meet regularly over a significant period of time to explore some topic of mutual interest related to teaching and learning. Don’t have any effect if not tied to specific student learning needs. Can be effective if meetings are focused on topics that are important to student learning or impacting teacher effectiveness and if meetings follow a process. What works: High school principals meet biweekly to discuss issues related to working with students who come from poverty. The meetings are used to review the research and work with “experts” on issues relevant to the topic.

Examining student work Give principals and their School Improvement Team the ability to closely examine student work in collaboration Designed to develop the principal and teachers’ understanding of student’s thinking. Helps the principal work with teachers to recognize the discrepancies between what they think they have taught and what students have learned. What works: Groups of grade level teachers and principals meet regularly to examine and discuss student work. They compare the level of difficulty of their assignments and discuss how students responded. They share out with other school teams.

Coaching and mentoring Help principals focus on and improve their practice by discussing it with other individuals. Coaching and Mentoring What works: An experienced principal with a strong record of improving student achievement works with a 1st year principal in his/her district or region. The principal observes a pre-observation conference with a teacher and then observes the lesson with the principal. They return to the office to discuss what they saw based on a rubric of teacher practice in order to provide formative feedback to the teacher.

Instructional coaching The use of an instructional coach to improve the principals’ leadership practice. Consultant style–coaches work with assistant principals or principals to advance their own self-improvement efforts. Encourages ongoing improvement Can take longer to see changes in teacher practice and student learning Confronting style –coaches respond to performance problems by initiating conferences with assistant principals and principals. This can lead to quick results. Offer concrete advice and modeling to improve leadership behaviors Can be difficult for principals to accept

Table Talk Take 2-3 minutes at your table to independently assess the type of professional learning experiences you are providing to administrators in your state. (handout provided) Discuss your assessment with your table group (10 minutes)

One Size Does Not Fit All One-day workshops with a consultant Statewide conferences On-line learning modules Graduate courses Videos Webinars Book Talks

Building Capacity: Partnerships Who Are Your Partners? NAESP & NASSP Foundations School Districts Charter Schools Professional Organizations/Businesses Universities

Table Talk & Sharing (20 minutes) Discuss current or potential partnerships for providing PD to your membership. Who are your current partners? How does the partnership work? Is the partnership effective? How do you know? High quality PD Good attendance Evaluations are positive Change in leadership behaviors Impact on teacher practice Impact on student results Be prepared to share 2-3 innovative practices to the whole group.

Jackie O. Wilson, Ed.D. jowilson@udel.edu 302-547-0043 Cell phone