School districts know that “sit-and-get” professional development isn’t working and can have extreme consequences, such as high teacher turnover and poor student performance. To combat this, across the country there is an ongoing, rapid evolution of professional development to be more personalized. While change in education is often slow, this long-overdue advancement is quickly taking shape.
Decision-making regarding professional development is complex. Districts are taking a variety of approaches to personalize professional development. Educator evaluation (and the underlying observation framework), educator input, leadership priorities and student achievement are all used to determine areas for improvement. A number of states are switching from requiring professional development hours for re-licensure to requiring individual PD plans allowing teachers to take greater ownership in the process. Research has uncovered that the most effective PD boils down to a few key characteristics:
1. It focuses on content knowledge.
2. It actively engages teachers.
3. It is embedded within teachers’ work.
4. It’s of sufficient duration and is sustained over time.
5. It involves a majority of staff.
These key ingredients drive positive changes in teaching practice and improvements in quality instruction.
So what does effective professional development look like? Effective professional development is a collaborative, personalized process of continuous improvement. At Hoonuit, we believe this starts with quality content that can be delivered online, face-to-face or in a blended environment with the ability to leverage assessments and a PD creation toolkit to tailor content to individual or district needs. Once an educator begins learning we move them through an active framework to apply, share and prove the concepts to ensure that learning outcomes are achieved and can be implemented into practice.
Just as effective teaching doesn’t conform to a one-size-fits-all model, meaningful professional development programs can take a variety of different forms. For districts to ensure that the learning opportunities they provide for their teachers and staff are positively impacting instruction, district leaders must understand the important role they play and dive deeper to challenge the quality and delivery of PD. To shed light on the ability to challenge, Hoonuit offers insight for district leaders to quickly see behavior trends, in order to make decisions about utilization, individual performance and initiative adjustments.
At Hoonuit, we’re committed to helping districts develop and implement high-quality PD. That’s why we offer an unprecedented PD delivery program that can be individualized to fit every district’s initiatives and personalized to meet every educator’s needs. Using Hoonuit’s classroom-focused content, teachers and administrators can access engaging, accredited PD programs that track and evaluate performance and key milestones.
To discover how Hoonuit’s Professional Development learning framework can equip your district to improve quality instruction, visit hoonuit.com/professional-development
To download DA’s Professional Development Special Report visit districtadministration.com/pd