Aligning Observations and In-service Professional Development Prek-3 rd Jason Downer May 9, 2012

Students’ Academic & Social Development Students’ Academic & Social Development Elements of Classrooms Influencing Learning How? PROCESS Implementation Relationships Academic & Social Interactions What? Who? Where? STRUCTURE Curriculum Standards Materials Training and Education

Effective Teaching through Interactions CLASSROOM INTERACTIONS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT CLASSROOM ORGANIZATION INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT

Observations across 4,000 Classrooms

Measures of Effective Teaching Observations, student ratings, and value-added models (VAM) show teachers are key to student learning Measures of effective teaching that are linked to student outcomes can and should become the targets of professional development

Actual scores for 7500 lessons. Framework for Teaching (Danielson) 6

Traditional Teacher In-Service Training Until recently, most PD consisted of workshops: – Designed to provide new information – Transmission-oriented – One size fits all – Not typically connected to teachers’ practice – Districts waste PD money. Spend between $2500 and $9,000/teacher/year. No evidence of impacts.

Maximizing the benefits of any curriculum or other classroom intervention requires a significant investment in professional development High quality in-service training is: – Sustained – Intensive – Classroom-focused – Research-based – Aligned with measures of effective teaching Effective Teacher In-Service Training

Coaching Impacts on Instructional Support * * ***p<.001

Adopt measures of effective teaching with established links to student outcomes Set standards for use of PD funds Align with measures of effective teaching Evidence of impact Meet current best practices Policy Implications