PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS

From: What Teachers Should Expect From Staff Development by Dennis Sparks, National Staff Development Council, Education Week, June 23, 1999.

These guidelines, written by the National Staff Development Council (NSDC), can be used by teachers and administrators to judge their own professional development programs in regard to the programs’ potential for positively impacting student and teacher performance.  

The NSDC suggests that quality professional development programs should:

Standard 1: Deepen teachers’ knowledge of the content they teach.

Standard 2: Expand the scope instructional skills.

Standard 3: Create regular opportunities for professional collaboration.

Standard 4: Develop assessment strategies that allow teachers to monitor gains in student learning resulting from improved classroom practices.

Standard 5: Encourage innovation, experimentation, and collegial sharing of new ideas and practices that support teacher learning.

Standard 6: Connect teachers to other professionals within and beyond their own schools and to outside sources of knowledge and skills.