Paradigm Shifts in Professional Development

1. Paradigm Shifts in Professional Development Can Teachers Direct Their Professional Development to Enhance Student Learning ? by Kathy Hennelly njexcel

2. The synergy of collaborative educational exploration can energize a whole school.

3. Cinnaminson High School • 9-12th grades, 730 students, DFG “FG” • 74 teachers, 1 principal, 2 asst. principals, a School Resource Officer, 3 guidance counselors, 2 dept. supervisors, 5 lead teachers, 14 ESPs • Points of pride: • Academic achievement • Extensive arts programs • Contending sports teams

4. Points of Academic Pride • Philadelphia Magazine: 22 of top 25 HS • 96.4% passed HSPA in LAL (highest in county) • First in state in LAL in FG DFG • 10th in passing Math HSPA in tri-county • 9th in county in overall SAT scores

5. Past Professional Development • Delivered from top down • No noteworthy effort to relate to student achievement, or collect data to see if student achievement increased

6. Opportunity to Improve • State requirement to convene BUILDING-LEVEL PD Committees • Chance to empower teachers to determine what they need as adult learners to help their students increase achievement. • First have to educate the staff that student learning should be the focus of professional development.

7. New focus for staff: How do my students learn? How do I know they learned? Can they connect to other learning? How deeply do they understand?

8. Convened building-level PD Committee • Educated selves and brainstormed ideas on how to get teachers focused on student achievement v. teacher pedagogy • Created a survey to solicit input as well as get staff thinking of student learning as a focus of professional development • Truly collaborative action research

9. Research Questions: • 1.What past professional development did the staff consider beneficial? • 2. What was the focus of that beneficial PD – staff needs or student learning needs? • 3.How do our teachers define student achievement? • 4. How do they measure it? • 5. How do they think they can improve it? • 6. What skills do teachers need to improve student achievement? • 7. What PD do teachers need that will help attain these skills?

10. Research tells us: • Teacher quality – most significant influence on student achievement (Hanushek, 2004) • Incorporating PLCs into ongoing PD is best practice for PD (Wylie, Lyon and Goe, 2009) • Important to monitor PD outcomes in terms of student achievement (Richards, 2009) • But the most important research is – that which we do on our own, about our own students

11. Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standards • Articulate a new vision of what PD can be (Standard 1) • Enhance instructional program in ways conducive to student learning and staff professional growth (Standard 2) • Strategically plan for the most efficient use of scarce resources to promote success of every student (Standard 3) • Collaborate with entire community (Standard 4)

12. ISLLC Standards continued: • Ensure accountability for every student’s academic and social success, modeling reflective practice (Standard 5) • Influence district and county resource allocation and policies (Standard 6) • Infuse technology throughout (NJ additional standard)

14. Previous PD was intended to enhance student learning

15. Focus was on TEACHING How was student learning enhanced? Only one mention of HOW they knew “I tried X, and noticed the visual learners were more engaged” Differentiated helped student learning, but no evidence

16. Your definition of student achievement? Pass classes Be well-rounded Higher test scores; more participation Stepoutside comfort zone Reach full potential Able to succeed in globalized world

17. How to measure student success? At least 85 average Be willing to challenge themselves Work with teachers to achieve a common goal Take joy in learning

18. What type ofSTUDENT BEHAVIORSwill enhance their learning? Choose several from list.

19. What is most needed to assist you to meet thelearning needs of students?

20. Whattype of PD will best addressyour answers to above questions? Choose several.

21. Rank in terms of importance for your PD, from most to least important Number of Responses

22. I believe PD should havestudent achievementas a primary objective

23. Recommendations: • PD in how to identify relevant student data, measure it, and analyze it. • Expand technology access (already unblocked as a result of the data in this survey). Much more to be done. • PD in how to motivate student to challenge themselves, ask more questions, participate more in class, take responsibility for their own learning.

24. PD can potentially have a significant effect onstudent success

25. Application to Leadership • A paradigm shift needs to occur, to focus more on measurable student achievement. • As a teacher-leader/chair, I can ensure this conversation continues. Will survey again soon. • Administration needs to take advantage of every venue (staff meetings, observations, curriculum reviews, etc.) to continue to frame the questions in terms of student learning and achievement.

26. TheEnd …and the Beginning….

27. Phase II: What happened? What still needs to happen?

28. Building PD Committee created a second survey: • Had PLCs answer, not individuals (to avoid “death by survey”) • Emphasized the tie between PD for teachers and student achievement. • Some significant incremental progress • The lexicon is changing! • But more data collection and training in analysis is required.

30. Motivated by OT grades Interested in content area Accountable for own success quiz/test scores High pass rates compared to DFG Get into 4-year college Participate in PE Feedback from current & college students Choose this field for career Improved writing Improved thought organization Increased financial literacy Broader use of Office software Acceptance into honors ensembles Increased homework completion What has student success looked like?

31. On what did you focus to help students succeed? #6 • Proper course placement • Pop quizzes and discussions to increase content area awareness • Diversified instruction; targeted instruction • Offer variety of activities • Hands-on activities • Review test-taking skills • Debrief student writing samples with staff • Use AP assignments in all classes • Assign questions and problems requiring synthesis skills

34. What types of student data have been collected? Choose all that apply.

35. What analysis of data has your PLC accomplished? • 9/15 (60%) answered “not yet” • ASK8 analysis, Midterm and Final raw score analysis, EOC score analysis • Examine unit scores, note trends and student reaction to tests, projects and quizzes.

37. Which would be most beneficial for upcoming in-service day?

38. Implications for leadership: • There are excellent teachers doing inspired work, but they need training. (40% still not comfortable with PLC concept, >50% want training and time to conduct data analysis). • Gradual introduction of data collection, then analysis is needed. • The most meaningful data is that which the teachers and PLCs decide is important to their students. • Next challenge is to use the benchmark process to collect meaningful data to drive decisions that will increase student achievement.

39. Results: • District PD committee did not address the building committee suggestions in their report to the county, but administration did agree that there could be training in data analysis. • April in-service will be on data analysis. • My district project was introducing data collection and analysis. • Benchmarks are a new requirement, which tie in to data-driven decision-making.

40. My district-based project fits right in with the needed next steps!