Professional development starts with a desire on the part of a person to improve, coupled with a vision of how to better the school as a community. The desire for professional development is driven by the aspiration to improve student learning. Personal development should be ongoing and reflective, with the primary goal being the improvement of teaching and learning through the use of more high-quality learning activities. Student outcomes are the major focus of staff development and should be result driven. The pre-set standards of the school system together with the curriculum set the focal point for the professional. In an ideal situation the principal would provide the teachers with available achievement data. This data should be collaboratively analyzed regularly.

When professional development is collaborative a professional learning community is created. The desire to improve is usually created by a specific problem that occurs in one’s daily life. The professional development would be more significant and productive, thus more effective to a person when it addresses a problem the teacher is facing. Job-embedded learning is an effective way to address day-to-day problems.

School based learning allows the schools to determine the desired education needed by the teacher. It offers the teachers the opportunity to observe others within the school, discuss the problems and share similar views. The ideal school based learning program is a place in which everyone learns.

Time and money must be committed for a professional development program for all staff. The staff must also have enough allotted time for an evaluation of the processes used for this development. Reflective thinking helps work out kinks and lends itself to the creation of other ideas. Evaluation should be a continuous process.

Professional development starts with a vision and requires a dedication to student achievement. All members of the staff should be actively involved in the process and they must all feel that their input is important. Objectives should be set and a plan of action should be developed in order to achieve the desired outcome of a real improvement in the methods of teaching and learning. Any accomplishments or changes should be evaluated and ongoing. If a teacher attends a reading conference and makes changes in instruction because of new- found knowledge, that teacher should evaluate the students prior to and after the change is made to evaluate the success of the new method.

In the last year, my school leaders have really tried to create a learning community. We started by having our faculty and administrators form a unified vision: “All students can learn.” We set measurable objectives to improve student learning. We based all decision on data (CRCT results), which had been collected. The administration consistently encourages and supports the professional development of teachers.

Teachers who are experts in different areas, such as reading or math, have been encouraged to coach others. Administration and teachers make joint decisions about discipline policies, math goals and reading goals. We identified specific areas of needs such as language arts, math and science. Committees were formed and a plan of action was developed to obtain the desired results. The Assistant Principal of Instruction locates conferences for various teachers to attend or hires experts to help advise staff members on the most efficient way to achieve objectives. If a teacher in our school is already doing a good job in a specific area, then time for other staff to observe this teacher is provided. If the majority of the faculty wants to observe a specific teacher, the expert teacher is asked to plan a staff development.

All teachers are required to meet by grade-level, as well as by mixed levels, to discuss benchmark and CRCT results. After we desegregate the results, we develop a plan of action to improve student learning. Professional development is expected of all staff members at my school. Teachers meet with administrators at the beginning of the year and set professional goals for growth. Teachers are expected to write a plan of action for achieving these goals. If this requires taking courses, the assistant principal of instruction helps us find courses or conferences to attend. When funds are available, she tries to offer stipends. At the end of the year, the teachers meet with administrators for yearly conferences. During this meeting, the leaders go over yearly observations. We are also required to reflect upon previously set goals and set new ones for the upcoming year. As a teacher, I find this time of reflection very valuable.

During previous years, the faculty has completed book studies on a school-focused goal, such as reading comprehension or classroom management. Each grade level would be responsible for teaching a chapter at a faculty meeting. After about the second chapter, most teachers seemed to lose interest in the book because very few teachers were not finding time to study because of other requirements. Basically, the teachers were just getting a few ideas that they seemed interested in trying and they were really getting them from sharing with other teachers, rather than from the book. Active participation was not required. Many of the teachers didn’t even read the book. Most teachers seemed to feel that this was a waste of their already limited and valuable time. This year instead of a whole group book study, we were asked to form groups of interest, such as discipline, reading strategies or math drills. The administration stated that the resources needed for a group study would be provided and time would be allocated to study and make plans for implementation of new ideas. I am currently in two study groups as of this date we have not received requested resources and have only met one time. If teachers are inconvenienced or have the opinion that the leaders do not value it, then it has no importance to the teacher. It appears that both the administrators and the teachers have placed the study groups on the back burner.

Last year, the assistant principal attended a Professional Learning Community Conference. Upon returning, she created a schedule for teachers to observe others teachers within our school. The schedule together with a list of things that we were looking for and an assignment to write a reflection of our observation to be turned in to that administrator was sent to us in an e-mail without an explanation as to why it was being done. Many rumors started developing and speculations were made that some teachers were “reading queens” or “math experts”. Most teachers felt that they were going to be evaluated by peers. After a week of chaos, the administration explained the reason for the observation schedule and assignment. The Assistant Principal of Instruction really intended to start a learning community. The staff would have been more receptive if prior explanations would have been given regarding professional learning communities and if teachers would have been given a chance to make the decision as to who they wanted to observe or what they wanted to demonstrate. Sadly, so much confusion was created that the idea was dropped and we were not allowed to evaluate the process, yet we still had to write a summary of the time we observed.

The administrators at our school have the good intention of creating a professional learning community with effective professional development. Our school seems to be making the shift slowly. Reflection and collegial sharing are daily expectations at my school. Professional learning is becoming more job-embedded and is more related to authentic student learning. Finding time appears to be the biggest roadblock at my school. I have learned from this study that in order to become an efficient learning community, necessary time must be provided so that everyone can complete and follow through all the steps of professional development.

After reading the required material in this course, I feel that I have gained many insights, most especially the vision of my administrators, which has never really been clearly communicated to the faculty. I now see the importance of a leader’s ability to communicate and assert commitment to the school’s shared vision. An effective communicator is an active listener who asks non-judgmental questions, discloses relevant information and offers support. The better communication skills the leader possesses, the more trust that person is able to gain because expectations become clear to all and there are few surprises that tend to undermine morale.

Structuring time to ensure professional collaboration is essential. It seems easy for the administrators to provide time for teachers to attend one-day conferences, yet impossible to allow the teachers time to implement the things they have learned or to share and collaborate on meaningful issues. Time must be given for faculty to meet and discuss issues. Schedules must be established so that teacher isolation can be reduced and collaboration must be encouraged. Professional development is continuous. In order to increase effectiveness, learning throughout a career must take place. Ensuring time to learn, reflect, share and grow is essential.

Improvement of student learning must be the main objective of any teacher’s professional growth. Focusing on continuous student learning is a characteristic of a learning community. As a prospective administrator I see the importance of continuously examining student data. The data should be collected and examined by teachers as well as administrators. Professional development should then be planned to improve student performance.

One question that I am interested in pursuing and learning about is “How can I start the use of portfolios in my school without causing an additional burden for teachers?” I feel that the development of professional portfolios will enable teachers and staff to examine individually their instructional approaches thus promoting continuous learning and ultimately improving methods of teaching. I feel that I would lead by example. I will begin by collecting evidence as suggested in our text. I plan to read more about the use of portfolios and the processes one uses to establish a portfolio. I will also start a reflective journal to become more comfortable with the reflection process. I need to share my working portfolio with my colleagues in a staff development program that I will initiate. My hope will be to inspire others.

Secondly I would like to discover “How do I maintain an effective mentoring program?” Well-planned and well-organized mentoring programs greatly enhance the learning community. When a teacher embarks on a new career, a mentor can help that person become an effective member of the new community by helping the teacher understand the culture of the school. When a mentoring program is added to the school the new teacher should have a coach, a guide and a role model. A mentor can pass the values and practices on to the new faculty member. This preserves the stability of the school. I would thoroughly research the establishment of mentoring programs and then I would visit some schools with effective mentoring programs and learn from them. It is very important for me to model reflective practices and encourage those in new teachers who seek my advice.

Thirdly I would like to answer the question “What are some effective methods for evaluating staff development programs?” Staff development encompasses many avenues of learning and is the foundation of teacher growth and can go far in improving the quality of education within a school system; therefore, it is important to evaluate the process, always looking for ways to improve. Again, I plan to research many staff development programs and attempt to derive a meaningful plan that is appropriate and productive and that fosters a positive attitude on the part of the many members of the learning community. I would like to attend at least two or three staff development workshops, interview persons who plan staff development in benchmark schools and summarize this and bring it back to my staff. Then I would meet collaboratively with my staff and come up with a plan that the majority of my staff was comfortable with. Because of their input and their familiarity with what we are doing, they will be more committed to the task of improving student achievement.