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NHEON > Professional Development > High Quality Definition

High Quality Professional Development:

High quality professional development may be defined by Context, Process, and Content.

“Professional Development must be job-embedded. For teachers, going to school must be as much about learning as it is about teaching. They must have time each day to learn, plan lessons, critique student work and support improvement as members of learning teams. Schools must be learning communities where staff members establish common goals for student success. Staff development cannot be something educators do only on specified days during the school calendar. It must be part of every educator’s daily work schedule.” - Stephanie Hirsh, Deputy Executive Director, National Staff Development Council

 

What does it look like?

CONTEXT

Professional development that improves the learning of all students:

Organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district.

Learning Communities

Requires skillful school and district leaders who guide continuous instructional improvement.

Leadership

Requires resources to support adult learning and collaboration.

Resources

PROCESS

Professional development that improves the learning of all students:
 
Uses disaggregated student data to determine adult learning priorities, monitor progress, and help sustain continuous improvement.
Data-driven
 
Uses multiple sources of information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impact.
Evaluation
 
Prepares educators to apply research to decision making.
Research-based
 
Uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal.
Design
 
Applies knowledge about human learning and change.
Learning
 
Provides educators with the knowledge and skills to collaborate.
Collaboration

CONTENT

Professional development that improves the learning of all students:
 
Prepares educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement.
Equity
 
Deepens educators’ content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately.
Quality Teaching
 
Provides educators with knowledge and skills to involve families and other stakeholders appropriately.
Family Involvement

 

Last updated August 25, 2004

 
NHEON is a collaborative project between the New Hampshire Department of Education and educators all across the state.

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