Redefining Professional Development
As plans for the next school year begin to take shape, each of you is interested in making the most of your professional development program. Nearly two decades of research has taught some powerful lessons about how to design and implement meaningful and effective professional development for teachers. An article written for the newsletter of The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement entitled Redefining Professional Development: Characteristics of Effective Professional Development examines the characteristics of high-quality professional development and offers some suggestions for improving its impact and effectiveness. In their study of the professional literature on professional development, Willis Hawley and Linda Valli found that effective professional development is:
· informed by research on teaching and learning and provides a strong foundation in subject content and methods of teaching
· integrated with district goals to improve education, guided by a coherent plan and driven by disaggregated data on student outcomes
· designed in response to teacher-identified needs and utilizes collaborative problem-solving in which colleagues assist one another by discussing dilemmas and challenges
· primarily school-based, provides sufficient time and other resources and enables teachers to work with colleagues in their school building
· continuous and ongoing, incorporates principles of adult learning and provides follow-up support for further learning
· evaluated ultimately on the basis of its impact on teacher effectiveness and student learning
You can also find more information and other resources by visiting The Center for CSRI - Home.
Reading Project Application Deadline
The Kentucky Reading Project (KRP) is a professional development initiative for Kentucky public school elementary (P-5) teachers. It is designed to improve student achievement and emphasize family involvement in literacy. More than 2,000 teachers representing more than 140 school districts have been trained in the KRP. The yearlong, graduate level reading course consists of a two-week summer institute, four follow-up sessions during the year and at least one coaching visit to each teacher. The deadline for applications is February 16. For more information about this opportunity, go to Kentucky Reading Project (KRP).
KTLC Registration Now Open
Registration for the 2007 Kentucky Teaching and Learning Conference is now open. The 2007 Kentucky Teaching and Learning Conference will begin with an opening keynote address, reception and drawing for a cruise on Wednesday evening, March 7. Workshops and concurrent sessions will be conducted Thursday, March 8, and Friday, March 9. There will be no Saturday sessions. This year's venue will again be the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville.
With the help of our KDE partners, great changes are in store for KTLC 2007. The theme for KTLC 2007 is Rigor, Relevance and Relationships: Three Rs of a 21st Century Education. The focus will be to help schools and districts address rigor, relevance and relationships as they plan learning opportunities for all students.
Registration information can be found by going to KTLC Conference Registration.
Quotable Quotes
“School improvement is most surely and thoroughly achieved when teachers engage in frequent, continuous and increasingly concrete and precise talk about teaching practice . . . adequate to the complexities of teaching, capable of distinguishing one practice and its virtue from another."
Judith Little