Ellen Moir

Ellen Moir

Every student deserves an effective teacher, 1 who is e'er seeking the very best means to reach each student. While there has e'er been an onus on teachers to commit to improving, state and district leaders must too improve professional learning opportunities for teachers. Fortunately, as a state, nosotros are beginning to accept strides in this direction. In September, a task strength convened by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson's office released "Greatness by Pattern." This report proposes sweeping changes to the way teachers are recruited, trained, brought into the profession, mentored and evaluated.

A central element in Greatness past Design is the evolution of teacher support from professional development to professional person learning. Professional development is typically single-shot, 1-size-fits-all workshops for teachers based on the expertise of the individuals delivering the session. Professional learning, on the other mitt is:

  • targeted and based on the specific learning needs of the students and school community
  • individualized for the strengths and needs of the teachers
  • grounded in the principles of developed learning theory
  • sustained and supported through implementation with coaching and follow-upward
  • consistently monitored and assessed to evaluate its impact on pupil learning and adjusted when necessary

For case, traditional professional person development might bring teachers together for an hr later on school to learn about a writing strategy the master wants to implement. In a organization of professional person learning, on the other paw, the principal would appoint teachers already using the writing strategy to collect and analyze information on its effectiveness and develop a plan to roll it out across the schoolhouse based on the readiness and private needs of the other teachers through training, coaching and monitoring.

Nosotros've seen how professional learning improves instructor effectiveness and educatee learning through our work. In Hillsborough County, Florida nosotros are supporting the district in using systemic mentoring and coaching aligned to commune evaluation systems. Here, teachers are offered data-driven, targeted, job-embedded professional learning supported by a menu of courses to raise learning past both interest and need. Some other example is Tulsa, Oklahoma, where date by both central role and site staff allows teachers, principals and commune leadership to engage in ongoing professional person learning at the individual, cohort and job-alike structures.

Now, a small group of didactics leaders across California are writing California's Professional Learning Standards based largely on the work of Greatness past Design. Professional learning standards clearly state how teachers should be supported in their ain professional growth within an aligned organisation. In such a system, teachers are provided with just-in-time, differentiated supports where the needs of the students and the strengths and growth areas of the instructor are composite together to positively impact a teacher'southward effectiveness and his/her students' accomplishment. Such standards take long been absent in California and, equally a issue, teacher professional learning is all over the map in terms of quality.

It'southward high time California takes this critical stride for supporting our teachers. Many states beyond the state take already adopted or adjusted professional learning standards developed in coordination with 40 professional associations and educational organizations by the professional association Learning Forrad, while others have written their own. In California, Long Beach Unified wrote their own standards, recognizing long ago how important such standards are to guiding educator effectiveness. The Broad Foundation listed Long Beach's support for teaching and learning as part of its criteria for awarding the district the Broad Prize for Urban Education in 2003. Such standards volition provide other districts in California a articulate road map for implementing professional learning practices that will most touch instructor effectiveness and student learning.

We hope that Greatness by Design and the standards soon to come out of it are supported by state- and district-level policies to support professional person learning. That means dedicating funding for high-quality beginning teacher support and assessment models to provide robust and focused support for accelerating new teacher learning and development for the critical first years of teaching; aligning credentialing requirements for teachers and administrators to the impending standards for professional learning; and supporting Common Core and Smarter Balanced implementations.

Every bit we focus on teacher effectiveness to increase pupil learning, we cannot but focus on accountability. We must likewise remember teachers are learners, also. Simply when accountability is paired with professional person learning tin can nosotros dramatically improve outcomes in classrooms across the state.

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Ellen Moir is founder and chief executive officer of the New Teacher Middle, a national nonprofit system that she founded in 1998 to improve student learning past accelerating the effectiveness of teachers and school leaders, especially in underserved areas.

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