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Summary of Key Ideas Derived Dennis
Sparks
is Executive Director of the |
Three Powerful Ideas
Three powerful ideas are currently altering the shape of this nation's schools and the staff development that occurs within them:
Results-driven education. Results driven education judges success not by the courses students take or the grades they receive, but by what they actually know and can do as a result of their time in school.
Systems thinking. This second transforming idea recognizes the complex, interdependent relationships among the various parts of the system.
Constructivism. Constructivists believe that learners build knowledge structures rather than merely receive them from teachers.
Changes in Staff Development
Results-driven education, systems thinking, and constructivism are producing profound changes in how staff development is conceived and implemented. Some of the most important of these changes are:
From individual development to individual development and organizational development.
From fragmented, piecemeal improvement efforts to staff development driven by a clear, coherent strategic plan for the school district, each school, and the departments that serve schools.
From district-focused to school-focused approaches to staff development.
From a focus on adult needs to a focus on student needs and learning outcomes.
From training that one attends away from the job as the primary delivery system for staff development to multiple forms of job-embedded learning.
From an orientation toward the transmission of knowledge and skills to teachers by "experts" to the study by teachers of the teaching and learning processes.
From a focus on generic instructional skills to a combination of generic and content-specific skills.
From staff developers who function primarily as trainers to those who provide consultation, planning, and facilitation services, as well as training.
From staff development provided by one or two departments to staff development as a critical function and major responsibility performed by all administrators and teacher leaders.
From teachers as the primary recipients of staff development to continuous improvement in performance for everyone who affects student learning.
From staff development as a "frill" that can be cut during difficult financial times to staff development as an essential and indispensable process without which schools cannot hope to prepare young people for citizenship and productive employment.
References
Fullan, M. 1991. The New Meaning of Educational Change. New York: Teachers College Press.
Sarason, S. 1990. The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Senge, P. 1990. The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday.