Professional Development for the Teacher, of the Teacher, and by the Teacher (1996)

In the old days, it was called in-service. In-service meetings were held during the first few days of the new school year before the students arrived. The meetings were usually conducted by an administrator or curriculum specialist from the district office, and the topics were generally picked by the administration. The intent was to update the teachers' skills, knowledge base, and to get everyone charged up for the new school year. Some teachers worked on entering names in their grade books; some cut out letters for their bulletin boards; some even slept, and occasionally someone benefitted. But the effect was usually closer to frustration at having lost valuable time which could have been spent getting ready for the students' arrival. No one seemed to ever ask the teachers what they wanted or needed to know about, and implement was expected to come from just being exposed to the information. Now days, it is called professional development. New name, old game. Meetings still take place at the beginning of the school year, held by an administrator or an outside consultant. And teachers still spend their time entering names in the grade book, cutting out bulletin board pieces, or sleeping. The intention of updating the teachers' skills is still the same, and the resulting frustration is still the same. Rarely does anyone ask the teachers what they want or need to know about, and they are still expected to implement the information after a cursory exposure to it. What happens between the intent of the professional development, which is certainly an honorable one, and the result of the professional development, which doesn't seem to accomplish the goals? The difficulty with professional development as it usually functions is that the people for whom the program is intended, the teachers, are left out of the loop. The professional development agenda is rarely the teachers agenda; the consultants come and go, but there is no support system to help the teachers work through the bugs that arise during the implementation. This article describes a program which was designed specifically to empower the teachers to make the changes in their own classrooms and in their schools which they think are appropriate. Change Since 1983 and the publishing of Nation at Risk, restructuring and reform have been part of the educational vocabulary. Change is inevitable and necessary. However, our educational practices have not kept pace with our increasingly complex society and that in many cases, we are still teaching in an early 1900's factory model of schooling. The consideration is how does a faculty begin and sustain the change effort. Restructuring, reform, or change of any kind in an institution as get in tradition and history such as schooling is difficult, and almost certainly involves the changing of rules, roles, and relationships. A necessary component to creating long-term, effective school change is to establish a common vision among the teachers and the administrators; a vision in which the teachers have a vested interest in supporting. If a common vision can be established, it will serve as a foundation for building school unity and a guide for the change. This vision should be one that the teachers and administrators have arrived at by agreement rather than one decreed from the top. Teachers are more committed to changes they have had a hand in designing. Teachers must become willing agents of change. Unfortunately, teachers may want change but lack the skills or knowledge with which to implement innovation, so that when change does come, it becomes a top-down administrative mandate. Workshops and traditional in-services with one-time consultants are usually single shot attempts at professional development. Without being based in the shared vision, and because there tends to be little or no follow up, there usually is lime or no substantive change. This type of professional development does not seem to provide support for professional growth. …