But you have to compromise. You have to make deals. These are not value judgments. This is how you solve problems in the public arena,'' he says. Ed Reidy, deputy commissioner of education for Kentucky, reminds skeptics that policies already exist, whether or not they've had a voice in creating them.
Policies are in legislative actions, court decisions, daily practices.
All states, all school districts have staff development policies, whether explicit or implicit,'' he says. The challenge is to ensure that those policies support high- quality development, he says. As with many reforms, Maryland's staff development effort was actually conceived in the research of another issue. About four years ago, the Maryland Business Roundtable, which would play a crucial role in developing the state's staff development policy, joined the state department of education in writing a technology plan that business and education could support. What kept the ball rolling and pushed it toward staff development was when the business community realized that you can't talk about technology in schools without talking about staff development for teachers.