A professional learning plan establishes short-and long-term plans for professional learning and implementation of the learning. Such plans guide individuals, schools, districts, and states in coordinating learning experiences designed to achieve outcomes for educators and students. Professional learning plans focus on the program of educator…

As part of the Redesign Professional Development (PD) Community of Practice, which includes 22 school systems across the country, Pittsburgh Public Schools is working to build greater alignment and coherence into its professional learning efforts. That means creating a district-wide professional learning system that helps the schools grow…

Learning Forward introduces new Standards for Professional Learning. This is the third iteration of standards outlining the characteristics of professional learning that lead to effective teaching practices, supportive leadership, and improved student results. The standards are not a prescription for how education leaders and public officials…

The workshop is done--How does anyone know that staff learned what they needed to learn? How does anyone know that the content of the workshop day is now common knowledge among the attendees? Two key indicators are feedback and evaluation. Feedback from participants is what the presenter uses to fine-tune his or her professional learning delivery.…

Collaborative learning teams are improving teacher practice and student learning results in the Dallas Center-Grimes Community School District near Des Moines, Iowa. Since 2009, all teachers and principals in the district have participated in collaborative learning teams to study a process known as assessment for learning, in which formative…

This article describes the collaborative efforts of the Webster Central School District in New York, USA, and the Learning Forward's Center for Results consultants, in the fall of 2010 in a focus to improve the elementary literacy program. The School District realized it was vital to have a strong, sustained foundation of professional and student…

Describes the long-range efforts to develop a comprehensive, multitiered multicultural education program in the Columbus (Ohio) Public School District. The article includes discussions on the philosophical framework underlying the program, staff development, curriculum changes, program planning and evaluation, course descriptions, and program…

Argues that staff developers can have a significant role in structuring programs for cultural diversity in the schools, and explains how the Cambridge (Massachusetts) school district's commitment to multicultural education led to changes in the curriculum and in the roles of the staff developers over several years. (GLR)

Hanging in the entryway of Quakertown Community Senior High School in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, was the school vision: "Enter to Learn; Leave to Serve." The school vision statement contained the right words, but it did not inspire anyone. In many classrooms, teachers lectured from the front of the room, students sat in rows taking notes,…

The Lyons Township High School (Illinois) set out to achieve 100 percent computer literacy for its 3,800 students in one year. Objectives of the overall program for the students and the staff development activities for teachers are described. (PP)

Goals for the development of building level staff development in the Greenwich, Connecticut evaluation model include: (1) evaluating information sharing; (2) evaluating staff interests and concerns; (3) evaluating the acquisition of new skills, techniques, and strategies; and (4) evaluating the sense of community and commitment among staff in the…

This article describes a collaborative public school-university project that provided telecommunications training to elementary teachers and students. Project development, implementation, and evaluation are briefly discussed. The staff development model which was utilized is described, and recommendations are made for future telecommunications…

A staff development process, the Basic Skills Articulation Plan (BSAP), has been used by the Franklin County (Ohio) Department of Education to meet state-mandated educational goals. BSAP and its results are summarized. (MT)

The importance of developing teachers' skills and feelings of power and professionalism is stressed in an interview with Ernest Boyer. Other topics of discussion include the establishment of a "teacher excellence fund" and the concept that school improvement is "people improvement." (DF)

A six-stage evaluation model is described for gathering data concerning the relative cost-effectiveness of alternative professional development activities which share common objectives. The model specifies the type of cost effectiveness data to gather and the analysis procedures to use in comparing the relative costs and effectiveness of the…