For educators to be successful in ensuring that students are college-and career-ready, they must have high-quality professional learning. This article describes how the foundation and guidance for evaluating the impact of professional learning can be enhanced with the "Standards for Professional Learning Tool" (Learning Forward, 2011).…

This article describes the actions taken by the members of the school leadership team at McWhirter Elementary Professional Development Laboratory School in Webster, Texas, when the results of the state reading assessment in spring 2010, had taken a sudden and dramatic drop from the previous year. The team designed an action research study to…

The field of staff development needs better evaluation both to improve the effectiveness of teachers' learning experiences and to produce credible evidence that will garner more support for professional development. Getting serious about evaluating professional development demonstrates that a school system or school is truly serious about…

This interview with staff-development expert, Bruce Joyce, discusses the effect of staff development on student achievement, focusing on the importance of teachers and administrators continuously studying what they are implementing, research on how staff development affects student achievement, assessment as part of the process of instruction, the…

Presents results from a two-year study that evaluated an instruction staff development project in the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Public Schools. Findings are presented from classroom observations, teacher interviews, and student tests. The study reveals teacher improvement in their instructional decision making resulting in positive changes in…

Eighteen schools in the Baltimore City Public School System have developed a successful whole school reform model. The components of the entire whole school reform package (focused professional development with the staffing to support it, a balanced literacy education program, and monitoring of the instructional program) have enabled the schools…

Describes the planning, facilitation, continuation, and evaluation of Designing Successful Learning, an effective staff development program created to facilitate district restructuring and improve student outcomes. The program focuses teachers' attention on cooperative learning, interdisciplinary instruction, performance assessment, student…

An evaluation mosaic brings together different methods and forms to present an overall picture of the impact this professional learning experience had on teachers' practices and on student achievement. Using this framework, professional developers were able to determine whether they were getting the results they wanted--and they did.