Learning Forward
Equity and excellence in teaching and learning.
Investments in Professional Learning Must Change
The Goals are Ambitious, The Stakes Are High - And Resources Are Key
By Learning Forward
August 2013
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Resources for professional learning include staff, time, funding, technology, and materials.
Adapted from the brief Meet the Promise of Content Standards: Investing in Professional Learning, this article draws on the work of Learning Forward’s initiative, Transforming Professional Learning to Prepare College- and Career-Ready Students: Implementing the Common Core. This multidimensional initiative is focused on developing a comprehensive system of professional learning that spans the distance from the statehouse to the classroom. The project will reform policy and practice and apply innovative technology solutions to support and enhance professional learning. With an immediate focus on implementing Common Core State Standards and new assessments, the initiative provides resources and tools to assist states, districts, and schools in providing effective professional learning for current and future education reforms.
This work is supported by Sandler Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and MetLife Foundation.
Learn more at www.learningforward.org/publications/implementing-common-core.
| Recommended investments in professional learning | |
| Investment | Purpose |
| 10 days embedded within educators’ work year and/or expanding educators’ work year. | To extend individual, team, schoolwide, and districtwide professional learning, teachers:
Participate in university courses; Enroll in expert- and peer-facilitated workshops; Engage in blended, face-to-face, and online courses; Attend local, state, or national conferences; and Interact virtually or in person with researchers and other experts. |
| Adjust school-day schedules to provide three to four hours weekly for collaboration among teachers, between teachers and their principals, and among principals. | To provide daily time for educators to transfer learning into practice, develop shared expertise, and refine practice through continuous improvement by:
Studying content standards and curriculum to plan units and lessons of curriculum, assessment, and instruction; Analyzing student learning progressions to identify and design interventions; Solving problems related to student learning; Calibrating student performance expectations; Supporting peer professional growth; and Reflecting on and assessing practice. |
| Provide technology infrastructure and innovative programs and resources to increase accessibility, efficiency, and adaptability of professional learning. | To provide access to just-in-time learning, models of effective practices, simulations of classrooms and schools, tools for knowledge management, analysis of practice, and presentation of learning;
To connect educators with local and global networks of experts and peers to solve problems, seek information and support, and give and receive constructive feedback; and To make educators’ practice public in networking environments. |
| Provide differentiated staffing and compensation to support coaches, mentors, and teacher and principal leaders. | To tap the expertise of educators within the school and school system through which master teachers and principals provide mentoring, coaching, and facilitated learning to individuals, teams, and school faculty to adapt and implement learning;
To increase the accuracy and frequency of use of the practices; and To increase their collective expertise. |
| Increase funding for professional learning expert consultants, technical assistance, conference registrations, program fees, print or electronic professional books and journals, memberships to professional associations, etc. | To maintain professional libraries with resources linked to national, state, district, and school goals;
To provide registrations for local, state, and national conferences to acquire cutting-edge research and practices; and To access technical assistance from experts with new perspectives and research- and evidence-based practices to support goal attainment and address identified gaps, needs, or problems. |
Transforming Professional Learning
Resources to Implement Common Core and Assessments
Leaders working to implement Common Core State Standards and new assessments can use these lessons and tools from a multistate demonstration project led by Learning Forward with support from Sandler Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and MetLife Foundation.
Learning Forward, working with the Council of Chief State School Officers, National Governors’ Association, National Association of State Boards of Education, and American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, designed these resources to improve professional learning policy and practice across the school system.
Meet the Promise of Content Standards: Professional Learning Required
Explain the research, rationale, and role of professional learning in implementing new standards and assessments, and describe what professional learning looks like in practice.
Comprehensive Professional Learning System: A Workbook for States and Districts
Design a comprehensive professional learning system that supports educator effectiveness and increased student achievement.
Professional Learning Policy Review: A Workbook for States and Districts
Conduct an analysis of existing policies related to professional learning.
Meet the Promise of Content Standards: Investing in Professional Learning
Understand how to invest time, funding, technology, materials, and staff in professional learning.
Professional Learning Initiative Analysis: A Workbook for States and Districts
Conduct an inventory, review, and analysis of existing practices and investments in professional learning to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Web Resources for Implementing Common Core Standards
Locate resources to support understanding and implementation of Common Core standards.
Meet the Promise of Content Standards: The Role of Comprehensive Induction
Improve mentoring and induction to develop capacity of novice teachers to share collective responsibility with their peers to increase student achievement.
Meet the Promise of Content Standards: The Role of Third-Party Providers
Strengthen skills of administrators and leaders to develop productive relationships with third-party professional learning service providers in the state.
Meet the Promise of Content Standards: The Role of Technology for Teacher and Student Learning
Understand how teachers use technology to implement Common Core, increase their instructional effectiveness, and support student learning.
Meet the Promise of Content Standards: Tapping Technology for Professional Learning
Guide the selection and use of technology within a system of professional learning. Access relevant content, refine instruction, and monitor continuous progress.
Meet the Promise of Content Standards: The Principal
Guide principals in implementing Common Core standards by ensuring they have
support in key areas of school leadership.
Establishing Time for Professional Learning
Redesign the school-day schedule to provide time for professional learning necessary to implement Common Core standards and assessments.
School-Based Professional Learning for Implementing the Common Core
Build capacity to lead effective collaborative professional learning to implement Common Core standards.
Guiding District Implementation of Common Core State Standards: Innovation Configuration Maps
Assess and guide district leaders in their core responsibilities to support deep implementation of Common Core standards and educator effectiveness systems.
References
Archibald, S., Coggshall, J.G., Croft, A., & Goe, L. (2011, February). High-quality professional development for all teachers: Effectively allocating resources (Research & Policy Brief). Washington, DC: National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality.
Calvo, N. & Miles, K.H. (2010, Fall). Beyond funding formulas: District transformation through weighted student funding and strategic decentralization. VUE, 29, 40-48.
Education First Consulting & Grantmakers for Education. (2011). Implementing education policy: Getting from what now? to what works. Portland, OR: Grantmakers for Education.
Killion, J. & Hirsh, S. (2012, February). The bottom line on excellence. JSD, 33(1), 10-16.
Learning Forward. (2011). Standards for Professional Learning. Oxford, OH: Author.
Murphy, P. & Regenstein, E. (with McNamara, K.). (2012, May). Putting a price tag on the Common Core: How much will smart implementation cost? Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
Odden, A., Goetz, M., & Picus, L. (2008, Summer). Using available evidence to estimate the cost of educational adequacy. Education Finance and Policy, 3(3), 374-397.
Odden, A. & Picus, L. (2011, September). Improving teaching and learning when budgets are tight. Phi Delta Kappan, 93(1), 42-48.
Usher, A. (2011, December 15). AYP results for 2010-11. Washington, DC: Center on Education Policy.
Learning Forward is the only professional association devoted exclusively to those who work in educator professional development. We help our members plan, implement, and measure high-quality professional learning so they can achieve success with their systems, schools, and students.
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