In Prince George's County Public Schools, we strive to provide the teachers, administrators, support personnel, and other staff with the highest levels of professional development. To this end, the National Staff Development Standards are used to guide and inform our process for designing and delivering programs, initiatives, and learning opportunities for the staff of Prince George's County Public Schools.

Rationale

The growth of staff development programs in recent years has resulted from a belief that these programs are necessary to increase student achievement. A growing bed research on the effectiveness of staff development programs has identified the characteristics of productive programs. The characteristics include:

• Connectedness to school settings and to schoolwide efforts;

• Involvement of teachers as planners;

• Providing choice and differentiated learning opportunities;

• Use of demonstration, supervised practice, and feedback as a part of training; and

• Ongoing assistance and support.

Although there are many ways in which educators may learn, training continues to be the dominant model. In many districts, training equals staff development. Recently, descriptions of differentiated models of staff development were provided to demonstrate that there are many ways in addition to training to improve job-related knowledge, skills, or attitudes (Sparks and Loucks-Horsley, 1990). Five models are offered as useful methods for accomplishing the goals of staff development.

Models:

	Individually-Guided Staff Development: The learner designs learning activities. One of the assumptions of this model is that individuals are motivated by being able to select their own learning goals and means for accomplishing those goals. One belief which undergirds this model is that self-directed development empowers teachers to address their own problems and by doing so, creates a sense of professionalism.
	Observation/Assessment: Instructional practices are improved through classroom observation and feedback. Having someone else in the classroom to view instruction and give feedback or provide reflection is a powerful way to impact classroom behavior. This model uses colleagues or other personnel to act as another set of "eyes and ears" for the teacher. Opportunities for analysis and reflection on professional practice are available in this format.
	Involvement in a Development /Improvement Process: Systematic school improvement processes typically involve assessing current practices and determining a problem whose solution will improve student outcomes. The solution might include developing curriculum, designing programs, or changing classroom practice. New skills or knowledge may be required which can be accomplished through reading, discussion, observation, training, and experimentation. Consequently, involvement in the improvement process can result in many new skills, attitudes, and behaviors.
	Training: A training design includes the selection of objectives, learning activities, and outcomes. Usually the outcomes involve awareness, knowledge, or skill development, but changes in attitude, transfer of training, and "executive control" need to be included as well. The improvement of teachers' thinking should be a critical outcome of any training program. The most effective training programs include exploration of theory, demonstrations of practice, supervised trial of new skills with feedback on performance, and coaching within the workplace.
	Inquiry: Teachers formulate questions about their own practice and pursue objective answers to those questions. Inquiry involves the identification of a problem, data collection (from research literature and classroom data), data analysis, and changes in practice with additional data collection. The inquiry can be done individually or in small groups. This model is built on a belief that the mark of a professional teacher is the ability to take "reflective action."

Another approach to provide variety in staff development is the use of technology to allow individuals or small groups to create staff development opportunities to meet their unique needs. For instance, video cameras can be used to promote self-assessment and/or peer coaching. Electronic networking services provide rich databases for educators, and electronic mail can connect teachers and administrators with colleagues as they seek answers to instructional or school improvement questions. Teachers can use staff development videotapes as awareness-building activities or to improve their knowledge and skills. Cable television and teleconferences can be tapped electronically to bring educational experts into the school. Videos and cable programs can even be viewed in the evening in one's home.

Example

A high school decides to eliminate tracking. The teachers know this will require different instructional practices. One teaching team considers the "five models" and decides to conduct action research on how to address the diverse needs of students in a heterogeneous setting. First team members locate research through an electronic data base on the topic of the heterogeneous classroom and descriptions of actual classroom practice. When the team assembles the articles, members divide the readings and share what they read with the rest of the group. The background work identifies that differentiated curriculum and instructional practices will be necessary to meet student needs. The group develops differentiated lessons for the same outcome and tries those lessons in their classrooms. They continue to research other instructional practices which might be useful in the heterogeneous classroom.

Outcomes

• Various forms of staff development are used.

• Adults are provided options for achieving staff development outcomes.

• As training is used, it includes theory, demonstration, practice, feedback, and coaching.

• Ongoing, job-embedded staff development is a typical activity in the school.

Discussion Questions

• What conditions in the school/district would hinder or facilitate the use of these five models?

• Using a current school improvement goal, discuss how each of the five models could be used in its attainment.

Source: Standards for Staff Development, National Staff Development Council, 1995.

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