Professional Development Plan

Professional Development Plan

The purpose of this project is to devise a plan, based on research, to provide a standards-based professional development for staff at a selected school. To this end, an analysis of the respective roles of administrators and teachers in implementing a standards-based curriculum and instruction will be followed by recommended strategies to ensure all students successfully meet the established standards. A recommended professional development plan that emphasizes standards-based curriculum and instruction for these educators concludes the project.

Development Effective Performance Development Plans for Administrators and Teachers Today

The Role of Administrators in Implementing Standards-Based Curricula and Instruction.

School administrators have been compared to a company's leadership in that they are both change agents and human resource managers; although administrators have functional areas of expertise, they must achieve their goals through people in their school systems. According to London (1995), "A central element of their jobs is managing change through people in ways that promote organization effectiveness and goal accomplishment. Change management skills and creating opportunities for human resource development become a source of management power in addition to the administrator's formal role and responsibilities" (p. 6). Furthermore, administrators are assuming more and more responsibility for implementing standards-based curricula and instruction in the nation's public schools (Stotsky, 2000). In recent years, the phrase "standards-based" has been used to describe a wide range of educational materials ranging from individual units to collections of classroom activities, to components that are "added on" to existing materials (Reys, Trafton & Wasman, 2001). While teachers have traditionally been tasked with the "hands-on" implementation of standards-based curricula and instruction in American schools, administrators are increasingly being brought into the picture as well (David-Madrano, 2003). The trend toward using standards-based curricula has also assumed increasing importance in recent years as policymakers seek solutions to glaring inequities in the public school system. According to Swain and Pearson (2002), "A standards-based curriculum will level the playing field for all students" (p. 3). Unfortunately, all too frequently, Pinar (2004) says, administrators tend to misunderstand the education of the public as a "business" and do not provide teachers with the support they require in the classroom today (p. 10). Furthermore, their application of state-based standards can also be inconsistent from one school district to another even within a state, depending on the school administrators interpret the criteria (Stotsky, 2000).

The Role of Teachers in Implementing Standards-Based Curricula and Instruction.

In many cases, teachers have traditionally possessed -- and continue to possess -- the majority of responsibility for implementing any standards-based curricula and instructional materials in their classrooms. According to Kearney (2000), teachers have increasingly assumed leadership positions in this regard because of the pervasive application of various site-based decision-making approaches used for school improvement purposes. "Although the teams are representative of the entire learning community -- administrators, teachers, parents, and community leaders -- it is the teachers who most often implement the suggested plans. As teachers recognize their influence, they emerge as leaders of the process" (emphasis added) (Kearney, p. 7). Although they may be leading the way, teachers are still faced with a number of challenges and obstacles in implementing standards-based curricula and instruction in the nation's schools, the foremost being a paucity of resources and a lack of specific training for the purpose (Bay & Reys, 1999). Further, Goldsmith and Kantrov emphasize that "Teachers committed to standards-based instruction have often found themselves at odds with district-mandated curricula that emphasize learning isolated skills and with textbooks that promote skill mastery through memorization and practice" (p. 1). Indeed, a primary consideration in all curriculum reform initiatives to date has been to ensure the inclusion of knowledge, understandings, processes, and skills that provide competency in a given field (Stotsky, 2000). With school curricula now being increasingly linked to standards-based examinations as a measure of academic achievement, an increasing number of teachers feel they must "teach to the test" and many are being directed by administrators to do so; as a result, general "curriculum development" has ceased to be a primary professional concern (Pinar, 2004). In this environment, teachers must use every tool at their disposal to help facilitate the implementation process of standards-based curricula initiatives; one such tool exists in the form of a professional development plan that could be used by teachers and administrators alike, which is discussed further below.

Recommended Professional Development Plan for Teachers and School Administrators.

Although every educational setting is going to be unique, there are some commonalities that exist across the continuum that help provide a framework in which a professional development plan for teachers and administrators alike could be developed. Today, therefore, professional development plans for educators and teachers alike must include high-quality, ongoing training that reflects a variety of approaches, combined with intensive follow-up and support that address these constraints (Professional Development for Teachers, 2000). The National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (2000) maintains that professional development is not the sole purview of teachers alone. Indeed, professional development is the shared responsibility of everyone who is involved with students: "Everyone who has an effect on student learning," they say, "from the members of boards of education, superintendents, administrators, and teachers to the support staff and parents/guardians -- must continuously improve their knowledge, skills, and attitudes" (Professional Development for Teachers, p. 2).