Standards Based Professional Learning

In my course work I have learned that there is a set of standards that has been strenuously developed by those interested in improving the educator learning process- better known as Professional Development.

Descriptions of those standards can be found on the Learning Forward website-
www.LearningForward.org

This week I was asked to consider how I would begin to improve the PD process in a school through the use of these standards.

In an effort to improve a school’s professional development approach, I would choose to first focus on Learning Forwards’ Learning Communities Standard. This standard involves developing a learning community with coordinated goals and a strong sense of commitment and responsibility toward improving teacher and student learning in order to reach those goals. I believe this would be best implemented by creating a dialogue and discussion to choose goals for the school to focus on. A lesson on collaborative norms and language for productive collaboration may also be necessary. The chosen goals should make sense for each grade level and area of the school, and align with each other for the betterment of the entire school. Schools with a common goal or purpose are able to bond over the commitment to improved learning, and the improvements seen in regards to those common goals. Growing in this area would give the school stronger sense of community- of a whole, rather than individual teachers with individual areas of focus. Developing and aligning our goals across the grade levels is the main area of this standard that I would like us to focus on. I imagine this will be a difficult venture, as we will need to engage in respectful dialogue to find areas of the curriculum that multiple grade levels can focus goals toward, so that we can all enjoy the pride that will come from improved student learning in those areas. Next, we will need to use the data standard to gather the “leading indicators,” or small signs that we are on the right path, that will drive our motivation towards long term goals (Laureate Education Inc., 2010).

The second area I would like our school to focus on is Learning Forwards’ Data Standard. This standard involves gathering and analyzing data from multiple sources for students, educators, and the system. At a school level, we would use this standard to teach educators how to develop or use multiple sources of data from their classroom. We would teach educators how to analyze the data to monitor student progress; specifically, data that would demonstrate correlation between teaching and learning, and between educators’ learning and classroom implementation as well. Personally, I struggled greatly with the task of data gathering. A lesson on relatively easy ways for educators to gather data without adding significant work to their already heavy loads would likely be greatly beneficial. I believe, that if the approach to data gathering were easier, then teachers could gather data all year long on the entire class, rather than when a problem arises. I recall that when I was able to gather data, I was always impressed by what I could learn from it in regards to my students’ learning and abilities. Additionally, we will participate in dialogue to analyze the data. What are we looking for in the data? A lesson on analyzing data would also be beneficial if this area is a struggle for the educators. Now what do we do with this information? We'll need to discuss how the information we learned can connect to our goals, so that we can follow through. To follow through we will need to take action on what we have learned from the data, try new practices within the classroom, consider colleagues suggestions and ultimately improve student learning. How will we know if we are meeting our goals? My most important reasoning for focusing on how to implement the data standard effectively is so that the improvements to student learning will be evident to the educators through continued analysis of data, and will serve as a “powerful motivator” as stated by Learning Forward (2014).

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Qualities of effective professional development: A framework for professional learning. [Video Webcast] Retrieved from: https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_5415580_1%26url%3D

Learning Forward. (2014). The Professional Learning Association. Retrieved from Learning Forward website: http://learningforward.org/