Systemic Jobembedded Professional Development

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Systemic Job-embedded Professional Development

• Putting Theory into Practice

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Essential Questions

• How do you know what kind of professional
  development is needed?
• What does it mean to have job-embedded
  professional development?
• Why is job-embedded professional development
  important?
• How can this work?
• What role does building level leadership play?
• What considerations should be made when
  implementing a job-embedded model?

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District Free Reduced
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Who we are, change over time
District Ethnicity
District ELL Growth
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Why Change the Way We Do Professional Development?

• Looking at our rapidly changing demographics, we
  knew that we must change. Some schools were
  changing more rapidly than others, but all were
  changing.
• We began to search for
• new ways to meet the
• needs of our students.

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Research

• Our research led us to believe that increased
  student-to-student interaction and increased use
  of academic language would benefit all of our
  learners. We needed classroom strategies that our
  teachers could use to achieve that goal.

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Choices

• Our search led us to an updated model of the
  Gradual Release of Responsibility. The update
  includes a collaborative phase in which students
  work together to learn new concepts. The entire
  model involves student-to-student interaction as
  the responsibility for learning is gradually
  released from the teacher to student.

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TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
Focus Lesson
I do it
Guided Instruction
We do it
Collaborative Learning
You do it together
You do it alone
Independent Learning
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY
Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional
Model
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Resources for Professional Development
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Defining Job-embedded Professional Development

• Job-embedded professional development provides
  learning opportunities through individual or
  collaborative activity and is conducted during
  the school day. The emphasis in job-embedded
  options is on teacher inquiry, discussion,
  planning, reflection, decision making, and use of
  data.
• Douglas Fleming

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A Second Definition

• Job-embedded professional development is learning
  that occurs as educators engage in their daily
  work activities. It can be both formal and
  informal and includes but is not limited to
  discussion with others, peer coaching, mentoring,
  study groups and action research.
• Holly Galloway

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• Long-term, sustained 60 hours
• Follow-up
• Classroom coaching
• Based on student learning
• needs
• 5. Curriculum, instruction,
• content knowledge, assessment
• Plan for support of
• implementation
• Collegial support and learning
• Aligned with schools curriculum,
• textbooks, assessments
• Active learning
• Collective participation

Improved Student Achievement
High-Quality Professional Development
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High quality professional development begins
with a focus on student needs and student
learning.

• It is results-based
• It is job-embedded
• It connects educator learning to student learning
  
• It ties individual learning to team learning

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Joyce and Showers Research                   
Professional DevelopmentOutcomes in Terms
ofEstimated Percent of Participants

• Professional Development Elements

Knowledge Level
Skill Level
Transfer to Practice
Theory
10
5
0
Demonstrations
30
20
0
Practice
60
60
5
Collegial Meetings and/or Coaching
95
95
95
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High quality professional learning is school
improvement. School improvement is high quality
professional learning.
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The Seven-Step Process for Planning
Results-Based Professional DevelopmentPathway
to Increasing Student Achievement
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Why is Job-embedded Professional Development
Important?

• Complaints of the disconnect between professional
  development and work in the classroom
• Best suited to adult learners
• Transfer of learning is greatly increased
• Research shows a greater impact on student
  achievement

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Considerations When Implementing Job-embedded
Models

• All principals must be knowledgeable and involved
• Instructional Facilitators create a leadership
  team that distributes and reinforces the learning
  on-site at the building level
• Communication and trust are critical
• This is not linked to teacher evaluation in any
  way
• The purpose is transparent and understood by all
• The time was made available for Peer Study Teams
  (PSTs) to meet beyond the 200 minutes of required
  weekly plan time, but still within the school day.

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Important Attributes of Job-embedded Professional
Development

• Reflection
• Collaboration
• Immediate application to the classroom
• Immediate feedback from peers
• Tightly coupled to the real work of the classroom
• Takes theory and puts into context of practice

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A Working Model in Springdale

• Training with administrators
• Training of trainers
• Trainers deliver curriculum to all teachers
• Peer Study Teams (PSTs)
• Case Studies
• Evaluation

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Site-based and Centralized Professional
Development

• Centralized professional development
• District determines needs for professional
  development
• District offers broad-based professional
  development for all teachers
• Establishes common language across the District

• Site-based professional development
• Principal determines needs for professional
  development
• Each school tailors professional development to
  the needs of that school
• Establishes common language across the school

• Combination of site-based and centralized
  professional development
• The school and the District provide professional
  development based on needs of students and
  teachers
• Establishes common language at schools and across
  the District

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Building Level Benefits to Job-Embedded
Professional Development

• Pre-K through 12th Grade we have
• Common language
• Common strategies (i.e. Think-Pair-Share)
• Common approaches
• Common systems of delivery
• Teachers
• Students
• AND
• Increased collaboration!

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As building leaders, it is critical that we

• Show we value the professional development
• We participate in the training
• We support our trainers, our agents of change
• We monitor progress, as well as share success
• Individual students
• Individual teachers
• Grade levels
• trainers

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Distributed Leadership

• Facilitators
• Content experts in reading, math, or ESL
• Attend all trainings
• Facilitate all Peer Study Team (PST) Sessions
• Become a resource to members of the team
• Use peer coaching skills and strategies
• Teachers
• Skills in specific strategies (positive
  deviance by Joan Richardson)

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TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
Focus Lesson
I do it
Guided Instruction
We do it
Collaborative Learning
You do it together
You do it alone
Independent Learning
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY
Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional
Model
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TRAINER RESPONSIBILITY
I do it
Focus Lesson
Guided Instruction
We do it
Collaborative Learning
You do it together
You do it alone
Independent Learning
TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional
Model for Professional Development
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The Key Element of Peer Study Teams Transfer

• History of professional development indicates
  that there has been limited impact in the
  classroom based on the traditional model of
  professional development
• Best practices learned must be transferred to the
  classroom with fidelity in order to have an impact

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Insight Into Transfer

• How People Learn Brain, Mind Experience and
  School - National Research Council
• Novices versus Experts
• When learning something new, we are all novices,
  even if we are gifted!
• Understanding expertise is important because it
  provides insights into the nature of thinking and
  problem solving. (p.31)

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Gaining a Deep Understanding of Transfer

• Processes of learning and the transfer of
  learning are central to understanding how people
  develop important competencies. (p.51, National
  Research Council)
• Assumptions about transfer accompany the belief
  that it is better to broadly educate people
  than simply train them to perform particular
  tasks. (p. 51 National Research Council)

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Elements that Promote Transfer

• Begin with a high degree basic knowledge of the
  concepts and skills required (Direct instruction
  with targeted book studies that support the
  learning)
• Provide teachers time to learn as well as time to
  process information (PST time)
• Engage teachers in deliberate practice that
  includes feedback (PST time)
• Note Transfer is affected by the degree to
  which people learn rather than memorizing a set
  of facts or fixed set of procedures. (p. 55,
  National Research Council)

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Levels of Transfer

• Level 1 Imitative use
• Level 2 Mechanical use
• Level 3 Routine use
• Level 4 Integrated use
• Level 5 Executive use

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Two More Transfer Elements

• Motivation to learn
• Learners are motivated when they see the
  usefulness of what they are learning and when
  they can use that information to do something
  that has an impact on others. ( p. 61) ( student
  selection of a struggling learner or an ELL)
• Reflective practice Metacognition (thinking
  about your thinking) evaluating the outcomes
  within the PSTs
• Seizing opportunities to reflect individually,
  in partnerships, and in group situations within
  an atmosphere of trust, individuals, groups, and
  schools learn how to become a continuously
  growing and learning professional community. (p.
  xv York-Barr)

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Arkansas Department of Education

• Supporting High Quality Professional Development
  A Pathway to Improved Student Achievement

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VISION
Professional development in Arkansas is
purposeful, connected and sustained to support
adult learning resulting in high student
performance.
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Thank You
Copies of this presentation and handouts may be
accessed and downloaded at http//www.springdale
schools.org/ProDev.aspx We gratefully
acknowledge Deborah Coffman of the Arkansas
Department of Education for the use of several
slides in this presentation.