New Look, New Standards

FOCUS

New look, new standards

By Tracy Crow

Categories: Fundamentals, Implementation, Leadership, Learning communities, Learning designs, Standards for Professional Learning

Leaders in North River School District (a fictional district) were disappointed. For two years, they had known their middle grades students were struggling in reading and language arts. They had instituted a range of efforts to improve instruction, such as longer reading blocks and one-on-one tutoring. But when they looked at end-of-year student achievement results and educator survey data, they recognized that their recent efforts had not been effective. Student achievement had remained flat or, in some cases, fallen. Even more troubling, the declines were steepest for students from marginalized communities. The leaders had a difficult conversation about which efforts to abandon, which to continue, and which new paths to pursue to ensure all students would excel in reading and language arts. The directors of

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Who are Standards for?

Standards for Professional Learning are intended to be used by educators and stakeholders in awide range of positions within and outside of schools and school systems to clarify what constitutes high-quality professional learning.

For those educators with daily responsibilities to plan and facilitate professional learning, the standards provide guidance for both short- and long-term planning, implementation, and support, as they did for the directors in the vignette in this article. In addition to directors of professional learning and curriculum, the standards are used in this way by instructional coaches, external assistance providers, principals, and others.
For educators with leadership responsibilities in systems, such as superintendents and chief academic officers, standards offer insights on how to ensure educators experience equitable access to high-quality professional learning year-round through the provision of sufficient resources and the establishment of supporting structures and visions.
Policymakers use Standards for Professional Learning so that relevant funds are tied to actions that lead to results for adult and student learners.
Researchers and those in higher education turn to standards to inform their related work, whether to structure research studies, explore particular concepts in depth, or align preservice education to evidence-backed educator learning.
Leaders in education organizations and associations align their support for educators in a range of school improvement priorities to standards to improve its efficacy and outcomes.