We have not articulated formal PD standards in California although, as
you noted, we do have guiding principles. Development of standards in
our state is a highly complex process involving input from several
hundred school districts, community colleges, and CBOs, formal State
Board actions, open hearings, legal opinions, etc., therefore standards
development is not something that is undertaken quickly. We are
beginning a conversation that parallels the one on this list. I will be
using the discussion topics to guide our progress. It's wonderful to
have this dialogue as a model.
 
David asked for feedback on the proposed AALPD standards. I think the
standards themselves are mostly very good and very appropriate. Good job
everyone that worked on them! The indicators however, are sometimes a
little overly prescriptive for our state and not always something that
can be accomplished on a broad scale. I think they would work very well
as indicators for our local programs. (I've always considered indicators
to be examples rather than requirements, so for the most part, the
standards themselves take care of the majority of issues for me.)
 
I must chime in on Standard #11 which talks about paid professional
development time. I wholeheartedly agree that the best practice would be
for teachers to have paid release time. I don't see this however, as a
professional development standard. It's a program management standard -
just like other business practices. CA has public employee collective
bargaining agreements. All teachers in our state adult schools (app.
12,000 teachers) are required to hold valid teaching credentials - adult
education teachers included. Most school districts negotiate wage and
benefit packages with the union representing their teachers. Release
time for professional development is a negotiable item, just like health
insurance or retirement benefits. If you're going to add standards on
management practices (release time, livable wage, benefit package, full
time employment, grievance or arbitration system), you open up a whole
can of worms that the PD system is not responsible for, and cannot
implement. For us, standards would have to focus only on the content of
professional development systems, not the employment agreements between
employer and employee. 
 
Standards 1 - 10 all seem strong, however I don't think you can
appropriately expect all PD activities to meet all standards. Let's
think about the various kinds of activities we have - one shot
workshops, linked workshop events, conferences, symposia, downloadable
materials, online courses (both asynchronous and self-paced), regional
collaborations, in service training within a school or college, coaching
and mentoring, networking groups, study circles, learning communities,
etc. Different standards are going to be more meaningful for different
types of PD activities. We want to make sure that we don't dilute the
value of a particular style of activity or learning by making it adhere
to standards that may not be appropriate for that style. (For instance,
in-service programs designed to orient a teacher to a particular school
probably don't need standard #8 - program, community, and state level
collaboration - as much they do standard #9 - building a learning
community.)
 
Another example. For instance (#6), there are still valid roles for the
one-shot workshop, especially when you're trying to establish a common
recognition of the importance of specific practices. The same holds true
for self-paced online courses, downloadable documents, etc. (A teacher
may be ready to learn a little bit about something, but not yet ready to
incorporate that knowledge into their practice.) Likewise the idea that
everything contributes to a learning community (#9) is very nice but not
always needed. Teachers also seek out information for their own
individual career development - not necessarily aligned to the goals of
the community within their school.   
 
All those concerns 
primarily address David's question ":Should all
standards apply to all activities?" Answer - you should always evaluate
your PD activity on all the standards, however if your activity doesn't
meet all the standards, it doe not necessarily mean it's the wrong thing
to do.
 
The bigger question is "Do you like the standards? Are they too
restrictive? Are they too general?" I think the standards are great,
except #11, which I don't think is actually an indicator of effective
professional development. It's an indicator of effective program
management - different thing. I think the standards are appropriate, are
challenging, and are realistic. Not too hard, not too soft, as
Goldilocks said, "just right."
 
 
 
 
Wendi Maxwell
Education Programs Consultant
Adult Education Office
California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Suite 4503
 
 



>>> "Taylor, Jackie" <jataylor at utk.edu> 11/29/2007 7:41 AM >>>


Hello Fran and others,
Fran, thanks so much for sharing the Maryland PD Standards. I*ve posted
them, along with the CALPRO guiding principles, in the PD Area of the
ALE Wiki for reference.
 
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Quality_Professional_Development

 
I*ve read through them and now I*m wondering how standards are used in
various states to select the professional development that*s provided.
Would someone please say more about that? In order to be considered
quality, must the PD offering meet all standards, for example? 
 
Thanks again, Jackie
 


From:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Fran
Mumford
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 8:00 AM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1756] Re: Experiences with PD
Standards

 
 
·       What has been your experience with PD standards?
Here is Maryland at the State Department of Education there are
Professional Development Standards that are used to approve professional
development activities for certification or renewal of certificates. 
These hold for K-12 and adult education. 
·       How do you use PD standards in your work? Or, how are you
planning on using them?
We plan to use them to provide instructional guidance to teachers in
the implementation of our new curriculum that will be implemented in
FY2009.  We will be responsive to their needs.  Many teachers are also
asking for technology related skills training.
·       What are some benefits of having PD standards?
The benefits are that adult education and correctional education have
access to an inclusive approval process.  The guidelines fit our needs
and are geared to student learning outcomes and a series of
activities/events that are designed to take an instructor from awareness
to skilled user of the instructional skill/methodology.  We can tap into
any professional development activity that has been approved for use
within the state.  One that is particularly good is on *brain based
research and its implications for instruction.*   
·       What are some drawbacks?
It takes considerable planning and development time (2-4 months) to
match the Professional Development Standards and to obtain final
approval.  (Note: Once approved, the professional development activity
can be used as many times as needed.)   I should also say that not all
professional development has to go through this process.  It is only for
those activities that are related to certification/renewal.  
The standards are good guidelines to follow and can be found on the
Maryland State Department of Education website. Standards are attached. 
(Where it speaks specifically to children, these areas are waived for
adult educators.)
Fran
 

Dr. Fran Tracy-Mumford
Academic Program Coordinator
Correctional Education
Maryland State Department of Education
200 W. Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
phone: 410.767.0732
fax: 410.333.2254
 


From:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounce
s at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
Taylor, Jackie
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 8:33 PM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1752] Experiences with PD Standards

 
PD List Colleagues:
As Evelyn noted earlier, the concept of having quality standards for
professional development is relatively new to our field. Yet, there are
some colleagues in particular states who have mentioned that they either
have standards or guiding principles, or that they are currently
developing them.
If you have experience with PD standards or guiding principles, will
you please tell us more? For example, I*d like to hear more from
colleagues in Arizona and their experiences with the National Staff
Development Council Standards. How is this affecting your work in
providing quality PD?
I*d also like to hear from colleagues in Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Massachusetts, California, Tennessee, and others, regarding your
experiences with either PD standards or guiding principles for providing
professional development. For example:
·       What has been your experience with PD standards?
·       How do you use PD standards in your work? Or, how are you
planning on using them?
·       What are some benefits of having PD standards?
·       What are some drawbacks?
This is our opportunity to learn from each other about what makes
quality professional development that improves instruction and learning
for all adults. And it*s just the beginning.
I look forward to hearing from you ~
Yours in learning,
Jackie 
Jackie Taylor, jataylor at utk.edu 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The draft AALPD Professional Development Standards and indicators can
be found by visiting:
http://www.aalpd.org/AALPDStandardsandIndicatorscombined11-06-07.doc 
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