Transcript Professional Development and Practice

Professional Development and
International Practice
Faculty Perceptions and Growth
Become passionately curious…. Albert Einstein
Essential question:
How do we determine the effects and
effectiveness of activities designed to enhance
the professional knowledge and skills of
educators so that they might improve the
learning of students?
Why is the effectiveness of professional
development practices important?
Consider your own professional
development experiences
• Which do you consider the most effective?
• What made these most meaningful?
• If asked, could you provide evidence of the
effects of the experiences? What kind of
evidence?
Never before in the history of
education has there been greater
recognition of the importance of
professional development.
Guskey (2000)
The conundrum
• Often viewed as…
▫ Special events
▫ Little input into planning the event
▫ Graduate credits or seat hours:
Endure
• The challenge
▫ Reinforces the perception of PD as a series of
unrelated workshops with little follow
up/guidance
▫ “How can I get my hours?”
▫ “What do I need to do to improve my practice?”
Knowing-Doing Gap
Pfeffer, J. & Sutton, R. (2000)
• Knowing-Doing Gap
▫ Why knowledge of what needs to be done
frequently fails to result in action or behavior
consistent with that knowledge
▫ “Intelligent, hard working people…fail to translate
knowledge about [effective] performance into
action” (page 6)
▫ Diffusion proceeds slowly; superior practices not
easily adopted.
• Who is responsible in creating effectiveness and
building capacity?
International Study: PD on
Culture of Continuous Improvement
• Methodology: Survey design based on three
separate one week professional development
sessions
▫ Session I: Five day-long sessions
▫ Session II: Three day-long sessions
▫ Session III: Two half day-sessions
• Participants: Purposive sample
▫ 19 participants
▫ Average 2. 5 years of experience
Conceptual Framework
• For professional development to be successful, it
must be adapted to the complex and dynamic
characteristics of specific contexts
(Guskey, 1995)
▫ Purpose-driven professional development
▫ Initiator specific
▫ Guidelines for professional development
effectiveness
Research Questions
1. Does professional development alter
instructional behaviors?
2. How does the faculty perceive the role of
international partners?
3. Do faculty indicate a need for additional
support from their international accreditation
partners?
4. How do faculty and content experts perceive
their ability to impact student learning?
Focus: First Research Question
• Does professional development alter
instructional behaviors?
• Findings
▫ The PD activities increased my teaching skills based on
research of effective practice. [ lowest score av.=3]
▫ The PD activities provided me with the knowledge and skills to
think strategically and fully integrate the program vision in the
program course work. [av.= 4]
▫ The PD activities enhanced my professional growth and
deepened my reflection and self assessment of exemplary
practices. [av.3.95]
Correlations:
Impact on Professional Practice
A negative correlation was found between frequency of
session attendance and the PD activities provided the
knowledge and skills to think strategically and fully
integrate the program vision in the [program] course
work .
(-.428, p= < .05)
The PD activities increased my teaching skills based on
research of effective practice had a positive correlation
with an increase in skills to analyze and use data in
decision making for instruction.
(.489, p= < .05)
Participant Satisfaction
Presenter knowledge and performance had a
positive correlation with the activities enhanced
my professional growth and deepened my
reflection and self assessment of exemplary
practices.
(.529, p = < .05)
Program Development Expectations
Percentages
• Participants in professional development
activities are involved in determining the topics
and content
▫ 60% of faculty agree or strongly agree
• There is an expectation that PD will cause
changes in teachers classroom practices to occur
▫ 95% of faculty agree or strongly agree
• The PD presenters are knowledgeable and have
credibility with the participants
▫ 95% of faculty agree or strongly agree
Theme: Collaboration
Collaboration needed between content
and pedagogy experts
Need to work more cooperatively to share
common goals (Part. 1)
Make [learning] community have the same
agreement….in achieving the mission and
vision. Not just come from the top, but from the
bottom to the top. (Part. 6)
Theme: Leadership
Leadership Commitment
We know PD must be long term, imbedded in
order to be effective. This improvement of PD
effectiveness will come from a
focus/prioritizing [by leadership] of the goals of
the program. (Part. 11)
Timing, timing, timing - in the overall structure
[leadership] simply must implement PLC time
and decide where to take that time from other
activities --not as an add-on. (Part. 1)
Specific to Culture
• Real life examples - what works here?
Suggestions on how to modify according to our
context here. (Part. 4)
• Contextual Culture/context needs reinforcement.
(Part. 10)
• Make it more concrete and appropriate for courses.
(Part. 16)
• I really expect that there is a time for asking and
answering or even discussing about our on- going
rubric that [we] have been using here. (Part 12)
Statement of Findings
• School culture/context needs reinforcement and
specificity; Why the Focus?
• Make it more concrete and appropriate [opposed
to theoretical], Make the “So What” clear
• Leadership must continue practices and provide
TIME to reflect and process
Unintended Findings
• Administrative driven; Purpose unclear
• Isolation within practice: Time needed
• Learning climate and credibility of presenters
positively correlate
• Staff want to be ‘included’ and supported; Entire
community strives to provide accountability
Stages of Concern
Hall, G. E. & Hord, S. M. (2006)
• The Concerns-based Adoption Model (CBAM) is a
well-researched model which describes how people
develop as they adopt an innovation.
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
Awareness: I am not concerned about it.
Informational: I would like to know more about it.
Personal: How will using it affect me?
Management: High maintenance
Consequence: How is my use [PD] affecting learners?
How can I refine it to have more impact?
▫ Collaboration: How can I relate what I am doing to
what others are doing?
▫ Renewal: I have some ideas about something that
would work even better.
Model of Teacher Change
Guskey (2000)
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Change in
CLASSROOM
PRACTICES
Change in
STUDENT
LEARNING
Change in
TEACHERS’
ATTITUDES
AND BELIEFS
[affect]
Final Reflections: Closing the Gap
• What is relevant?
• Guidelines:
▫ Recognize Change as Both an Individual and
Organizational Process
▫ Think Big, but Start Small (gradual/incremental)
▫ Work in Teams to Maintain Support (shared voice)
▫ Include Procedures for Feedback on Results
…to be sustained and [if] changes are to endure, the
individuals involved need to receive regular feedback
on the effects of their efforts
(Guskey, 2005; Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000)
Janine Allen
Dean of Education and Counseling
Corban University
[email protected]
503.589.8158