Professional Development (Special Report, 2010)
Sorting Through the Jumble to Achieve Success
November 10, 2010
This special report aims to provide a fresh look at teacher professional development. The stories examine many facets of teacher training, including its research base, implementation in districts, cost, and evolution. For the project, our reporters drew on interviews with teachers, administrators, and scholars.
It is our hope at Education Week that the report will generate new conversations for those school leaders charged with upgrading the quality of teacher professional development.
- Professional Development Teacher Voices - ProfilesAs Education Week reporters in 2010 investigated the critical challenges involved in improving the quality of teacher professional development and in-service training, they collected compelling stories from classroom teachers about their experiences, both good and bad.School & District Management Full Cost of Professional Development HiddenDistricts tend to consider training as programming, which leads to underestimating other investments in teachers' knowledge and skills.
Teaching Experts Search for Best Content to Train TeachersBoth content and instructional knowledge are among the elements of professional development that researchers are examining.School & District Management Mich. District Adds Accountability to Staff TrainingSchool leaders devised ways to provide oversight without being too prescriptive about individual school teams' activities.School & District Management Proof Lacking on Success of Staff DevelopmentWeakness in education research and obstacles to studying teacher training's impact on student achievement are behind the lack of proof.
Federal Texas District Targets Teachers for ELL TrainingAn evaluation Austin conducted of the first two years of the program for regular classroom teachers finds it "moderately effective."
School & District Management Mass. District Strives for Teacher 'Learning System'Administrators and teachers are trying to convert typically scattershot professional development into a seamless endeavor.Professional Development Staff-Development Providers Eye New OpportunitiesStill, the industry will have to compete for market share with districts as school systems shift ever more training in-house.
Professional Development Professional Development for Teachers at CrossroadsTo be a player, the field must be able to articulate both what it is and how it can help teachers improve student achievement.Teaching Profession Questions Arise Over Teacher-Credential ExpensesExperts differ over whether additional course credits or advanced degrees should be counted as professional-development spending.
