The document discusses key characteristics of quality professional development for teachers. It should be job-embedded, focusing on analyzing student learning and finding solutions to immediate classroom problems. It also needs to be research-based, foster both individual and team learning, inform adult learning through examining student learning, link the process to improved student results, and foster overall professional learning and growth.

1. Quality
Professional
Development
by Karen Kroll

2. Quality Professional Development
Is.. Job Embedded
● is grounded in day-to-day practice
● occurs regularly
● consists of teachers analyzing students'
learning and finding solutions to immediate
problems of practice
● is aligned to student standards, school
curricula, and school improvement goals.
Examples of Job
Embedded PD
Mentoring/Coaching Data Teams/Assessment
Development
Organizational Research Peer Observation
Peer Coaching Portfolios Study Circles
(Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995; Hawley & Valli, 1999; Hirsh, 2009)

3. Focuses on Results
Professional development not tied to outcomes in
student achievement, it is often nothing more than
activity-based time, time that may not have lasting
or meaningful results.

4. Research Based
By examining what works, instructional leaders can
determine which practices are most effective in
different contexts and what factors will contribute to
improved educator and student learning.

5. Fosters Individual and Team
Learning
For professional development to take hold and
result in increased student performance, it should
include both individual and team, or organizational
learning.

6. Informs Adult
Learning through
Student Learning
To improve student performance
start with an assessment of how
students learn and where
students are in the learning
process. This will require an
examination of student work,
and a review of data on student
performance.
Link Process with
Results
Focus on what they will generate
in terms of improved student
learning, rather than on the
skills that the session will
develop in teachers. The
acquisition of skills is a step
along the path towards improved
student achievement and
enhanced learning, not the end
goal in itself.

7. Fosters Professional Learning and
Growth...
Examine educators'
cognitive processes
and relationships, as
well as the physical,
social and emotional
conditions that lead to
the transformation of
knowledge, attitudes,
skills, and behaviors,
rather than the
activities associated
with the development
process itself.