Professional Development Providers Are Agencies That Offer Professional Learning Opportunities

Professional development is the systematic and comprehensive approach to continuous learning that will ensure employees remain abreast and current in their field, enhance knowledge and skills, and engage in activities that will contribute to the sustained growth of Catawba Valley Community College. Each employee is responsible for developing an annual professional development plan that aligns with the Catawba Valley Community College short and long term

All professional development experiences should be: based on an assessment of need; generated from outcome objectives; planned for successful, progressive learning; and evaluated for attainment of delineated outcomes. A variety of methods, settings, and types of experiences should be employed to best meet the acquisition of new knowledge, skills, and abilities.1

Dr. Fremstad has been instrumental in the implementation of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) at West Fargo High School. She understands the power of teacher collaboration and has led the charge to train and monitor the program with fidelity. Jennifer has inspired educators to share student evidence of learning and extend intervention or enrichment learning opportunities based on the data. In addition, she advocates on the importance of frequent classroom visitations with her leadership team and establishes annual visitation goals to support teachers and

Professional development refers to the acquisition of skills and knowledge both for personal development and for career enhancement.

Roberts, S. & Pruitt, E. (2003). Schools as Professional Learning Communities: Collaborative Activities and Strategies for Professional Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Professional development is an opportunity to reflect, share common goals, support each other as well as learn from others knowledge, expertise and experience. Regular supervision and training of staff can lead to reduced sickness and absence, it can improve the service that they

Unfortunately, thorough research on the impact of professional development on student achievement is limited because it is challenging, complex and expensive to study. Nonetheless, Hoaglund, Birkenfeld, and Box, (2015), conducted a study that illustrated that learning communities are viable tools for providing professional development to both pre-service teachers and current teachers. Their study showed how a group of pre-service teachers and their supervisors participated in a professional experience learning community for two terms prior to the pre-service teacher’s junior year at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Questionnaires and interviews were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The results of the study indicated that all participants valued the experience and consequently were able to gain and identify some benefits of a professional learning community (PLC). Participants specifically reported a greater appreciation of collaboration with more experienced educators as a practical way of solving issues and implementing processes and procedures for increasing student achievement. The activities incorporated within the

Teachers sometimes attend these, but do not apply those skills. PLCs involve talking with a team of teachers and analyzing data or student work to come up with action plans to move the students forward academically or behaviorally. PLCs involve more communication between teachers, and action steps that can be apply right away in the classroom. In my opinion, it is very effective when both professional development and PLCs are used at the same time. For example, a teacher attends a professional development, and through a PLC, they share what they learned and how it can help the other teachers in the team. The team would then apply that skill or strategy and report back to the team so see what results came from each one of them trying those skills. The team would modify the strategy based on

For example, in the Tobin and McInnis (2008) qualitative study, teachers were provided two, three hour workshops about how to differentiate their literacy instruction in the classroom. The professional development courses played a role in the increase of literacy skills of students. This finding correlates to research conducted by Connor et al (2011). In a quasi-experimental study, 33 teachers, at seven schools, were put into two randomized groups. Only one group received professional development and provided varying types of literacy instruction to their students. 70% of the students at the beginning of the study were unable to read. Connor et al. found more of an increase in student comprehension in the differentiated classrooms with trained teachers, than with the non-differentiated instruction, untrained teacher classrooms. Results were measured with a reading comprehension test conducted at the beginning and end of the school

Professional Development measures the degree to which teachers value continuous personal development and school-wide improvement.

To further help the veteran teachers and the new teachers coming in, professional development will require an ongoing commitment from all levels of the school organization. There will need to be resources available to help guide the teachers’ professional development. The adoption of professional learning communities (PLC’s) within the school and district supporting them is paramount. The continued development will help the teachers implement PBL (Rosenblatt, 2012)

We therefore used a three-wave snowball sampling design (summarized in Figure 1). Snowball methods allow researchers to map networks when population boundaries are ill-defined (Doreian & Woodard, 1994). We began the snowball by conducting exploratory interviews with PD providers (Wave 0, n = 10) representing the range of actors and organizations involved in providing PD in the region. To ensure geographic diversity of the sample, we identified individuals in key PD organizations in different counties. We interviewed providers from school districts, charter management organizations, non-profit organizations, and local universities. The aim was to solicit the names of individuals involve in providing PD in the region. We created an initial list of names that formed the seeds of the snowball. Inclusion in the sample required that participants had planned or provided mathematics and/or science professional development for teachers within the prior year. The sample was also constructed to include all the organizational sectors and geographical locations represented in the initial list. This was done to ensure the sample covered the range of actors involved in providing professional development in the

Traditionally, teacher development typically occurs through trial and error in the isolated confinements of each teacher’s classroom with some periodic whole-group professional development (Goddard & Goddard, 2007). Within the past few decades, many schools and districts, including ours, have considered and experimented with Professional Learning Communities (PLC) as an alternative framework in guiding a more efficient development program for their teachers. PLCs are focused on enhancing student learning through developing teacher practices. The concept of PLC relies on using structured collaborative sessions amongst teachers within the school to build internal capacity. Through PLCs, teachers critically reflect on current

The Framework for Teaching by Charlotte Danielson has been developed through research as a guideline for current and future teacher’s professional responsibilities in and out of the classroom. Districts throughout the country are using this framework to assess and guide their teachers to build successful methods of planning and preparations, setting up the classroom environment, instruction and professional responsibilities. Each of these domains builds off of each other to form a successful learning environment. Domain 3 focuses more specifically on instruction using communication, discussions, engagement, assessments and flexibility.

Professional development providers play a key role in the policy implementation process by supporting teachers as they learn about and enact new policies. The adoption of the Common Core standards in many states has placed new demands on teachers and schools. By mediating between policy and the classroom, PD providers are in a unique position to influence how teachers understand and ultimately implement new policies. Using social network analysis and the theory of brokerage, this study has explored how PD providers access and activate social capital to support PD planning and delivery. Brokers have the potential to play a critical role in shaping the flow and content of information and resources in a social network. This impacts the social