A New Vision for Staff Development

1. A New Vision for Staff Development Dennis Sparks &Stephanie HirshASCD 1997 Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education 2006

2. Major Shifts in Staff Development • From individual development to individual and organizational development: • Improvements in individual performance alone are insufficient to produced the desired results. • Individual and organizational goals must be addressed simultaneously and support one another. Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education 2006

3. Major Shifts in Staff Development (cont’d) • From fragmented, piecemeal improvement efforts to staff development driven by a clear, coherent strategic plan for the district, school, and individual departments/teams: • Orientation to student outcomes and systems thinking • Clear mission statements and measurable objectives • District offices become service providers Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education 2006

4. Major Shifts in Staff Development(cont’d) • From district focused to school-focused approaches: • Attention to helping schools meet their school improvement goals • School staff seeks incremental improvement related to a common set of goals • Learning activities designed and implemented by school staff with technical assistance from Curriculum Office Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education 2006

5. Major Shifts in Staff Development(cont’d) • From a focus on adult needs and satisfaction to a focus on student needs and learning outcomes, and changes in on-the-job behaviors: • What should students know and be able to do, and work backwards to the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed. • Student outcomes are not just the responsibility of the teacher but are the result of a complex interaction of the various parts of the system. Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education 2006

6. Major Shifts in Staff Development(cont’d) • From training conducted away from the job as the primary delivery system to multiple forms of job-embedded learning: • Move from “sit and get” away from school • Coaching to follow all programs • Learning in small groups through action research, peer coaching and observation, study groups, lesson study, Critical Friends, journal writing, LASW, and others Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education 2006

7. Major Shifts in Staff Development(cont’d) • From an orientation toward the transmission of knowledge and skills to teachers by “experts” to the study by teachers of the teaching and learning processes: • Teachers develop their own expertise by working on processes that help them continually improve their understanding of teaching and learning. Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education 2006

8. Major Shifts in Staff Development(cont’d) • From a focus on generic instructional skills to a combination of generic and content-specific skills: • Studies have shown the importance of teachers possessing a deeper understanding of both their academic disciplines and of specific pedagogical approaches tailored to those areas. Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education 2006

9. Major Shifts in Staff Development(cont’d) • From staff developers who function primarily as trainers to those who provide consultation, planning, and facilitation services as well as training: • Focus shifts from the “traditional” to help with results-driven education and systems thinking (school improvement strategies). Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education 2006

10. Major Shifts in Staff Development(cont’d) • From staff development provided by one or two departments to staff development as a critical function and major responsibility performed by all administrators and teacher leaders: • Development of others becomes a central point for all leaders. • Staff developers move to one-on-one coaching, facilitation of meetings, and other needs determined by individual schools. Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education 2006

11. Major Shifts in Staff Development(cont’d) • From staff development directed towards teachers as the primary recipients to continuous improvement in performance for everyone who affects student learning: • Continuous improvement becomes the process that all staff follow. Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education 2006

12. Major Shifts in Staff Development(cont’d) • From staff development as a frill that can be cut during difficult budget times to an indispensable process without which schools cannot hope to prepare young people for citizenship and productive employment. Johns Hopkins University School of Professional Studies in Business and Education 2006