Designing Effective Professional Development
A Conceptual Framework
Effective professional development does not just "happen."
In order to create high quality professional development programs, designers
must understand the needs of their target audience; know what research
and the wisdom of practice have to offer; address multiple goals within
the constraints of limited resources and the realities of specific contexts;
implement activities consistent with their goals; and continually monitor
and fine tune the program to best address their professional development
goals. The purpose of this "conceptual framework," outlined
below, is to establish a context for professional development designers
to use in selecting materials from the TE-MAT database.
- Understanding the Needs of the Target
Audience
- Deciding on the Purposes of the Professional
Development
- 2.1. Deepening Teachers' Content
Knowledge
- 2.2. Understanding Student Thinking
and How Students Learn
- 2.3. Selecting Appropriate Instructional
Materials
- 2.4. Using Appropriate
Instruction to Promote Learning for All Students
- 2.5. Assessing Student Performance
- Building on Current Knowledge about Professional
Development
- Adapting Professional Development Programs
to the Particular Context
- Selecting Appropriate
Professional Development Strategies and Materials
- 5.1. Examining Classroom Practice
- 5.2. Immersing Teachers in Inquiry
- 5.3. Presenting Information to Teachers
- 5.4. Curriculum Implementation
- Preparing Professional Development Providers
- Implementing Effective Professional
Development
- Evaluating the Quality and Impact of
Professional Development
- References
Weaving together all of these components, while keeping the purposes
of the professional development always at the forefront of decision making,
is a complex task. We encourage you to explore each of the elements of
an effective professional development program represented in the framework
outline, to consult materials that are highlighted within this framework,
and to search the database for other materials that will be useful to
you in designing and implementing high quality professional development
programs. Materials cited in the conceptual framework that have been reviewed
by TE-MAT are linked to their reviews. (A list of other references cited
can be found in 9. References.)
Designing
Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics
(Loucks-Horsley, et al., 1998) addresses these issues directly. In addition
to providing a "design framework to assist professional development
in combining strategies uniquely tailored for their contexts and their
particular goals in improving science and mathematics teaching and learning"
(p. xiii), this book illustrates "the design process in action"
by describing the decision-making steps of several different professional
development programs. Similarly, an essay prepared by Judith Fonzi describes
the thinking that went into the design (and redesign) of a professional
development program for middle school mathematics teachers.
The monograph, Professional
Development that Supports School Mathematics Reform, prepared
by Borasi and Fonzi (2002), further illuminates the design process, identifying
a series of "teacher learning needs" and describing a number
of professional development programs designed to address those needs.
While these particular publications focus on professional development
for in-service teachers, many of the design principles are applicable
to pre-service programs as well.
In addition, a number of people who have been involved in the development
of the TE-MAT database have shared some of their ideas about the professional
development of mathematics and science teachers in a series
of essays.
Continue: Understanding
the Needs of the Target Audience
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