Feb 06 2009
I am probably jumping to conclusions here but- Professional Conferences/Seminars Probably DON’T work!
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- Image by Eduardo Amorim via Flickr
This just found in my email box from Education Week:
The time U.S. teachers actually spend in professional training largely
continues to take place in isolation, rather than in school-based
settings that draw on teachers’ collective knowledge and skills, the
report says.
Furthermore, the authors go on to quote Linda Darling-Hammond a Stanford University professor who co-wrote the report Professional Learning in a Learning Profession, with four colleagues at that university’s School Redesign Network saying,
“We still see teachers engage in really short one- and two-day
workshops rather than ongoing, sustained support that we now have
evidence changes practices and increases student achievement.”
So… here is some strong research-based information that tells us that these one-two-three day seminars are not effective UNLESS there is sustained and continous follow up.
The key question that comes to my mind though is when will leaders be held responsible for the follow-up for their entire organization and when will we as learning professionals take on the sustained follow-up ourselves. Isn’t that what a PLN created to do for me? Can we not sustain our own learning?
If not, the answer is clear. No more conferences. They don’t work. Build in staff development in the context of the school setting. Focus all financial and human resources for that purpose. Period.
I guess the choice is ours a Learners in a Learning Community!
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Good points made in your post. I am under the firm belief that I can get my staff to change or focus on doing one major thing really, really well during the school year. This could be anything from curriculum to classroom management. Either way it is a broad to specific focus designed to create a common practice and develop a common language within the school community. This focus is kept in the forefront and is ingrained in everything we do the entire school year. It requires a bit of research and development, but insures a long-term and long-lasting effect in the school. After the year ends, we start the whole process again with a new focus.
I partly agree. Staff development should as much as possible be about authentic experiences within school that teachers can relate to their teaching and work with others to explore further. This is more likely to happen in house.
However, personally I have made some good contacts at conferences and they have added to my PLN. Often the intensive nature of a conference can lead to insights that could take longer within the setting of school professional development where time is often restricted.
Aside from what the research says I like what Seth Godin says about meetings and conferences.
“I think the standard for a great meeting or a terrific conference has changed.
In other words, “I flew all the way here for this?” is going to be far more common than it used to be.”
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/05/the-new-standar.html
So what I hear you saying is that schools need to hire a consultant on a year to year basis. If your focus is reading, hire a “reading coach” to come in house, get to know the program and help move teachers through a continuum. If the focus is technology, bring in a “technology coach” who can help move the school in that direction. These people would have to be treated more like consultants than teachers, more like coaches and have access to everyone from Admin to classroom aids.
Do you have talent in house? Sure, but you can’t be a coach and teach at the same time.
Also you need to make sure you have coaches where your school focus is. It does no good to have a math coach in your building if your focus for the year(s) is on Science.
I think it’s also good to have these coaches/consultants on short term contracts…they are not there to make friends, they are there to build communities, to change teaching habits, and to help create a positive school environment. If they know they only have two years to complete that task it gives them a deal line and a target.
Now the real question….will schools actually change?
I agree. Professional learning needs to be grounded in the reality of educators’ daily lives. Conferences can give take-away tasks and participants can remain connected but we all go back to our own schools. Application makes learning concrete. On-site professional learning, in local communities is much more powerful and relevant. For a learning organization to create momentum for collective change, professional development needs to be systemic and sustainable.
So who catalyzes this learning? As one who has been both a consultant and teacher, I agree with Jeff that it is difficult to wear both hats. There is an insider/outsider dynamic which affords a consultant a certain amount of distance and authority. Still, time on the ground is essential since “all politics is local” and each school is different.
I see effective and lasting professional development processes as balancing content, process and context. To this end, CREDE (the Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence) applied five standards to professional learning in the context of sociocultural theory. http://crede.berkeley.edu/research/pted/rb2.shtml
1. Facilitate learning and development through joint productive activity among leaders and participants
2. Promote learners’ expertise in professionally relevant discourse
3. Contextualize teaching, learning, and joint productive activity in the experiences and skills of participants
4. Challenge participants toward more complex solutions in addressing problems
5. Engage participants through dialogue, especially the instructional conversation
I think it is possible to embed professional learning into existing structures which promote teacher collaboration and serve on-going school initiatives (e.g. performance evaluation and strategic planning). The National Staff Development Council (nsdc.org) champions school-based learning and has gone so far as to declare its goal as: every educator engaging in effective professional learning every day.
Jeff… many schools have come to realize that someone on the ground for an extended period of time helps get quality implementation of program, but alas, that old adage you can’t be a prophet in your own land come home to roots quickly.
I think it comes down to leadership holding the organization responsible and accountable for followup.
[...] Hmmm… great I thought. I wrote. I wrote. I wrote some more. Then it happenned! Proof that somebody out there (except the few who actually left a comment) is reading my thoughts and perhaps internalizing some of my message! My personal blog was cited as a source of information in a committee meeting this week at my school. The teachers and administrators noted value in the post “When is it too much? AND When do we say “DO IT or GO!”?, which was posted on my blog and here at leadertalk and the post “I am probably jumping to conclusions here but- Professional Conferences/Seminars Probably DO… [...]
[...] I have written before about my belief that staff development needs to be addressed as a long term effort, and not something that can be taken on as a short term effort to solve a particular problem. [...]