Effective Professional Development

The National Staff Development Council has produced a terrific review of the literature on effective professional development, sprinkled with great examples of best practice in schools. If you're looking for help making the argument for sustained, job-embedded, collegial learning, you need this book! (Note: CSTP has no financial stake in NSDC)

The Learning Educator: A New Era for Professional Learning. NSDC, 2007.
www.nsdc.org

Just a taste. questions that measure the impact of PD (T. Guskey) include..
What changed in my teaching practice as a result of what I learned?
What do I know now that I didn't know before?
What changed for my students?
What changed in my school's culture?

Think what a difference we'd make if these were the questions used to design and evaluate investments in professional learning.

Jeanne Harmon
Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession
www.cstp-wa.org