Transcript Agenda for Today’s Session

Who, What & How
New Models for Evidence-based
Professional Development
CIES Conference
Wednesday, March 13, 3013
Camille Catlett, FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina
Marilou Hyson, Early Childhood Consultant, and University of Pennsylvania
Aglaia Zafeirakou, Global Partnership for Education c/o The World Bank






Overview of recent research on professional
development (PD) for Early Childhood
Development (ECD)
Definition and contextual framework for PD
Indonesian example
Gambian example
Questions and answers
Take home ideas
One thing we can say with certainty about
professional development is that workshops
alone are not effective if building skills or
dispositions is the desired outcome
(Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman, & Wallace, 2005)
One-off events and training workshops are
consistently the PD method of preference in
early childhood, despite the fact that shortterm, one-time trainings have little or no
impact on quality improvements.
(Zollitsch & Dean, 2010, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2011)
Recent research syntheses on adult learning
strategies and teacher development provide
some empirical basis for
designing effective
professional development
(Trivette, 2005; Trivette, Dunst, Hamby, & O’Herin, 2009;
Darling-Hammond, Wei, Andree, Richardson, & Orphanos, 2009)
Is intensive and ongoing, with multiple, sequenced, active
learning experiences
 Is grounded in specific practice-focused content
 Builds on the learner’s current level of
understanding
 Includes large doses of learner selfassessment of his/her learning against
a set of standards, criteria, or expert
feedback
 Is aligned with instructional goals,
learning standards, and curriculum
materials

Relationship-based training efforts (coaching,
consultation, technical assistance, mentoring,
communities of practice, peer study groups) are
promising but largely unproven methods. To
date studies are “far from conclusive and offer
little in the way of showing
advantages of one over the
other.”
(Zollitsch & Dean, 2010)
OUTCOMES
% of participants who
could demonstrate
KNOWLEDGE
% of participants who
could demonstrate
SKILL
% of participants who
could USE NEW
SKILL IN THE
CLASSROOM
Theory and
Discussion
10%
5%
0%
Training with
Demonstration
30%
20%
0%
Training with
Practice and
Feedback
60%
60%
5%
Training with
Onsite Coaching
95%
95%
95%
PD Methods
(Joyce & Showers, 2002)
“Professional development is facilitated
teaching and learning experiences that
are transactional and designed to
support the acquisition of professional
knowledge, skills, and dispositions as well
as the application of this knowledge in
practice …
The key components of
professional development include:
a) characteristics and contexts of the learners
(i.e., the “who” );
b) content
(i.e., the “what” of professional development);
and
c) organization and facilitation of learning
experiences (i.e., the “how”).”
Think
about…
Who are the learners?
•
•
•
Are the decision makers?
Are essential community partners?
Are the PD providers (consultants,
coaches, mentors, faculty members)?
What do you want the learners to
know and be able to do?
•
•
•
•
Master content?
Apply content?
Support others in using content?
Know where to find resources?
How will you organize, support,
and evaluate the learning?
Community Organizing Model of
Professional Development
• Use community
context and the
resources generated
from an
understanding of
community context
• which will support
changes in the
knowledge, skills, and
behaviors of PD
providers (mentors,
consultants, faculty)
Community
Context
PD
Providers
Children
Families
Teachers
Community
• which will support
changes in child
outcomes and
family/community
perceptions
• which will support
changes in the
knowledge, skills,
and behaviors of
teachers