Learning is not short and easy, unfortunately. Reform is not just about policy or structure or a one-year turnaround in test scores. It is about teachers' learning, profound changes in practice, a system that nurtures and sustains both, public patience, and the hard work of students. Nearly two decades of experimentation to change America's public education system have revealed important indicators of how to meet teachers' learning needs. Central school district offices should, for the most part, go out of the business of designing and delivering continuing education programs or hiring commercial companies to do it for them.
Professional development is the business of the staff of each school and of the profession at large.
The primary purpose of teachers' professional growth is to improve their ability to realize the academic and civic development of the students they serve. The profession must step forward to take responsibility for individual and collegial quality in the context of a supportive system.