Teaching quality seems to be on everyone’s minds these days. A recent speech by Stanford economist Eric Hanushek raised the ante. He suggests “an investment in education, designed to improve and increase students’ skills, is the best and most effective strategy for stimulating the economic recovery.”
Hanushek argues that student achievement gains cannot be attributed to investments in “per-pupil expenditures, class size, pupil/teacher ratios, whether or not teachers have a master’s degree, years of experience, and teacher certification.”
So what CAN make a difference? Investing in the recruitment, development, and retention of effective teachers. A recent book written by Douglas Reeves not only provides insight about the type of professional development that CAN impact results – Reeves offers the practical steps needed to achieve this kind of professional development in our schools.
Those of you who follow us on Facebook know that I’ve been reading and thinking a lot lately about this book titled “Transforming Professional Development into Student Results.”
Reeves begins by criticizing the current state of most professional development. You know the inservice “du jour,” after-school sessions that could be labeled “Death by PowerPoint,” or any one-shot workshop not linked to student data or teacher needs. Reeves argues that “If we expect teachers and school leaders to improve professional practices and decision making, then we must first give them different knowledge and skills than they have received in the past.”(p. 15)
This is a book packed with common sense and research-based practices useful to any teacher, regardless of grade level. Reeves begins with every school’s need to develop a clear and common view of proficient work, and then to FOCUS on ensuring that their students reach proficiency based on that vision (p. 50).
He suggests four steps to ensure that professional development makes a positive difference in teaching and learning:
- Rather than using one test score to measure teacher proficiency, use a “broad range of evidence not only of a teacher’s knowledge and professional competence but also of their empathy and understanding of others and themselves.”
- Provide feedback beyond simply the teacher’s current level of competence that assists with personal growth and learning.
- Provide feedback to teachers and administrators using a “preflight checklist” – setting out “information and support before poor decisions adversely influence student achievement.”
- Use ongoing “low-risk, frequent, and constructive feedback that is designed to be formative” (pp. 58-59).
This book is so full of nuggets of wisdom, that I’ll blog more about it soon. In the meantime, I’m interested in learning what you think about teaching quality and professional development. Do Reeves’ steps make sense to you? What most often gets in the way of taking those steps?
Cathy Gassenheimer is A+’s executive vice president for the A+ Best Practices Center.
