What is Effective Professional Development?

Dr. Robert MayesScience and Mathematics Teaching Center

University of Wyoming

What does it mean to teach for understanding?

High Quality PDNational Council of Supervisors of Mathematics

• Pair-Share Cooperative Exercise– Pair up with a teacher or administrator from another

school– One person take the role of speaker, the other listener– The speaker takes 2 minutes to discuss characteristics

of successful professional development, perhaps by relating a personal experience

– The listener does not speak until the speaker is finished, they then have 1 minute for comment

– Switch roles and repeat– As a group summarize key points

High Quality PDNational Council of Supervisors of Mathematics

• Effective professional development produces well-defined changes in teaching practice and student achievement

• Requires collaboration with school leaders and teachers across three interconnected program components– Diagnosing– Designing and Implementing– Evaluation

Diagnosing

• Identifying and agreeing upon the instructional problem(s) to be solved– Survey teachers– Teacher focus groups– Observe classroom instruction– Assess teacher content knowledge– Examine student data

Designing and Implementinghttp://www.te-mat.org

• Deciding what intervention strategies are appropriate and how they will be introduced

• Design of PD program should:– Focus on specific mathematical content knowledge and

related pedagogical content knowledge– Directly connect to classroom mathematics materials that

students are using– Embody a clearly articulated theory of adult learning– Whole school or whole district participation– Sustain focus over time– Allow for practice, peer coaching, and follow-up

Designing and Implementing

• Implementation of PD program should:– Provide continuous training for all math teacher leaders– Provide time and support necessary for teachers to gain skill and

confidence in using materials– Provide experiences that deepen both math content and

pedagogical content knowledge– Permit modeling of the strategies with students while teachers

observe– Model and encourage teacher-pair instructional coaching– Provide time for teachers to share results of their experiences– Include specific roles for administrators’ involvement in PD so

they know what teachers are doing

Evaluationwww.pdmathsci.net/instruments/cop.pdf

• Ascertaining what’s working and looking back on what worked through a two-part evaluation plan– Gather data for assessing and improving the

program’s impact on the specific teaching practices that are targeted

– After instructional change has been documented – attribution to improved student learning should be established using appropriate performance assessments

Evaluation

• Participating teachers should gather before-and-after data on student understanding of a specific concept or procedure addressed by PD– Data are focus of small-group or whole-group

analysis and discussion– Could lead to re-teaching of the concept or

procedure

Evaluation

• Participating teachers should observe and evaluate lessons taught to students by a PD teacher leader

• Teacher pairs should engage in peer teaching and discuss their observations

• PD providers should use structured observation protocols to measure quality of teacher’s use of strategies and materials

Evaluation

• Administrators should use structured observation protocols related to the PD program as the basis of teacher evaluation and mentoring

So what are your roles as teachers and administrators?

• Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Activity• Expert Groups (5 minutes)– Read the assigned passage and be prepared to explain

the key points to othersTeacher Experts Administrator Experts

α Participating in PD PD Eventβ Design of PD Define and Design PDγ Implementation of PDImplementation of PDδ Assessment of PD Maintaining PD

So what are your roles as teachers and administrators?

• Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Activity• Base Groups: one expert from each of the 4 expert

groups shares their findings with experts from other groups (10 minutes)

RED: α β γ δ group Green: α β γ δ groupBlue: α β γ δ group Black: α β γ δ groupAdministrator Group: share out

• Share out across teacher and administrator groups

Dr. Robert MayesUniversity of Wyoming

Science and Mathematics Teaching Center

rmayes2@uwyo.edu