Professional LearningStandards

(from learningforward.org)

Ensuring Quality and Effective Staff Professional Development to Increase

Learning for ALL Students

KY’s New Professional Learning

StandardsAdopted October 2013 along with revised

regulation to provide a common framework for professional growth in Kentucky.

The new Professional Learning Standards:Goals:

Improve teacher effectiveness, and Increase student achievement

Support the new Teacher Professional Growth and Effective System (TPGES)

Professional Learning 704 KAR 3:035 (Revised)

"Professional development" means Professional Learning that… Is an individual and collective responsibility, Fosters shared accountability among the entire education workforce

for student achievement,Aligns with Kentucky’s Core Academic Standards in 704 KAR 3:303,

educator effectiveness standards, individual professional growth goals, and school, school district, and state goals for student achievement,

Is ongoing, relevant, job-embedded learning focused on content and pedagogy for educators at all stages of career development,

Provides opportunities for individual and collaborative professional study, analysis, application, and reflection relevant to ongoing improvements in professional practice and student achievement, holistic school improvement and program implementation.

Ultimately, the purpose of educator professional learning is to increase student learning.

Standards for Professional Learning

Adopted from Learning Forward (formerly the National Staff Development Council [NSDC])

The shift from PD to PL in KY is intended to elevate the importance of growth in educators that is driven by the need

to improve student results.

Successfully implementing the vision of professional learning will translate into practice for ALL teachers and will ultimately ensure equity in students’ access to effective teachers and learning experiences.

Merely accumulating PD hours must be replaced by an intentional systemic approach to professional learning in which the opportunity for applying, reflecting and refining the learning results in improving teacher effectiveness and student achievement.

PD vs. PLProfessional Development Professional Learning

Formal events in which people gather to learn

Emphasis on learning as a process that continues over time, extends into practice, and impacts results for students

Professional Development Professional Learning

Primarily the sharing or dissemination of information, skills, and strategies without intentionality or accountability for implementation or results.

Emphasis on accountability for implementing new knowledge, ideas, and strategies.

PD vs. PLChanging the name from development to learning may seem a

small change, but the goal is to change the perception of educator development from one that is a passive process, removed from the daily work in schools, disconnected from student and educator standards, and designed by those outside the school

To one that represents desire and accountability for continuous improvement, rooted in data, research and standards that occurs daily in schools, facilitated and designed by educators (supported by external assistance when necessary).

PL emphasizes that learning is a process that continues over time, extends into practice, and

expects results for students.

Professional LearningPL serves simultaneously three purposes:

individual improvement (alignment with individual growth goals), school and district improvement (alignment with CSIP/CDIP), and program implementation (alignment with school, district and

state improvement goals and initiatives).

For PL to have its greatest impact, it must be aligned with state and local goals for student achievement and with individual professional goals for effectiveness, and the systems that support these goals.Decisions about PL are made collaboratively by educators, among

educators, their colleagues, and their supervisors, and based on student, educator, and system data.

The success of PL is measured in terms of its impact on educator effectiveness and student achievement.

Relationship Between PL and Student Results

2. Changes in educator

knowledge, skills, and dispositions

3. Changes in educator practice

4. Changes in student results

1. Standards-based

professional learning

1. If desired student results are not achieved

2. Reflect, reference data/standards/etc. to determine what changes in practice are needed

3. Determine what knowledge, skill, and/or dispositions are needed to make the desired changes

4. Engage in appropriate PL needed to make the changes in and strengthen their practice.

This cycle works two

ways.

Prerequisites for Successful PL:• Educators are committed to students, all students.

• Committed educators understand that they must engage in continuous improvement to know enough and to be skilled enough to meet the learning needs of all students. As professionals, they seek to deepen their knowledge and expand their portfolio of skills and practices.

• Each educator involved in PL comes to the experience ready to learn. • PL is a partnership among professionals who engage with one another to access or construct knowledge, skills, practices, and dispositions; however, it cannot be effective if educators resist learning.

• To accommodate the different experience levels, use of practice and learning needs among educators, Educators must listen to one another, respect one another’s experiences and perspectives, hold their students’ best interests at the forefront, trust that their colleagues share a common vision and goals, and are honest about their abilities, practices, challenges, and results.

7 Professional Learning Standards

Learning CommunitiesLeadershipResourcesDataLearning DesignsImplementationOutcomes

Define the essential conditions for effective Professional Learning.

Describe the attributes of educator learning that define quality and effectiveness of Professional Learning.

Identifies the essential content of Professional Learning.

Professional Standard layoutStandard: Standard 1 Learning

CommunitiesStem: Professional learning that

increases educator effectiveness and results for all students…

Introduction: Brief overview of standards content

Core Elements: 3 per standardRelated Research

Standard 1. Learning CommunitiesLearning Communities: Professional learning that increases

educator effectiveness and results for all students occurs within learning communities committed to continuous improvement, collective responsibility, and goal alignment.

Professional learning within communities requires continuous improvement, promotes collective responsibility, and supports alignment of individual, team, school, and school system goals. Learning communities convene regularly and frequently during the workday to engage in collaborative professional learning to strengthen their practice and increase student results. Learning community members are accountable to one another to achieve the shared goals of the school and school system and work in transparent, authentic settings that support their improvement.

Engage in Continuous ImprovementDevelop Collective ResponsibilityCreate Alignment and Accountability 

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Standard 2. LeadershipLeadership: Professional learning that increases educator

effectiveness and results for all students requires skillful leaders who develop capacity, advocate, and create support systems for professional learning. 

Leaders recognize effective professional learning as a key strategy for supporting significant school and school system improvements to increase results for all students. Leaders from classrooms, schools, school systems, technical assistance agencies, professional associations, universities, public agencies, etc. develop their own and others' capacity to learn and lead professional learning, advocate for it, provide support systems, and distribute leadership and responsibility for its effectiveness and results. 

Develop Capacity For Learning And LeadingAdvocate For Professional LearningCreate Support Systems And Structures

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Standard 3. ResourcesResources: Professional learning that increases

educator effectiveness and results for all students requires prioritizing, monitoring, and coordinating resources for educator learning

Effective professional learning requires human, fiscal, material, technology, and time resources to achieve student learning goals. The allocation of resources for professional learning can affect its quality and impact its results for educators and students.  

Prioritize Human, Fiscal, Material, Technology, and Time Resources

Monitor ResourcesCoordinate Resources

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Standard 4. DataData: Professional learning that increases educator

effectiveness and results for all students uses a variety of sources and types of student, educator, and system data to plan, assess, and evaluate professional learning.

Data from multiple sources enrich decisions about professional learning that leads to increased results for every student. Multiple sources include: common formative and summative assessments, performance assessments, observations, work samples, program reviews, reflections, etc. However, data alone do little to inform decision making and increase effectiveness; thorough analysis and ongoing effective use of data are essential to inform decisions about professional learning.

 Analyze, Student, Educator, and System DataAssess ProgressEvaluate Professional Learning

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Standard 5. Learning DesignsLearning Designs: Professional learning that increases

educator effectiveness and results for all students integrates theories, research, and models of human learning to achieve its intended outcomes.

Several factors influence decisions about learning designs, including the goals of the learning, characteristics of the learners, their comfort with the learning process and one another, their familiarity with the content, the magnitude of the expected change, educators' work environment, and resources available to support learning. Integrating theories, research, and models of human learning into the planning and design of professional learning contributes to its effectiveness. The design of professional learning affects its quality and effectiveness.

Apply Learning Theories, Research, And ModelsSelect Learning DesignsPromote Active Engagement

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Standard 6. ImplementationImplementation: Professional learning that

increases educator effectiveness and results for all students applies research on change and sustains support for implementation of professional learning for long-term change. 

The primary goals for professional learning are changes in educator practice and increases in student learning; this is a process that occurs over time and requires support for implementation to embed the new learning into practices. A variety of supports including constructive feedback and reflection to support continuous improvement in practice allows educators to move along a continuum from novice to expert through application of their professional learning. 

• Apply Change Research • Sustain Implementation Provide Constructive Feedback

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Standard 7. OutcomesOutcomes: Professional learning that increases

educator effectiveness and results for all students aligns its outcomes with educator performance and student curriculum standards. 

Professional learning that increases results for all students addresses the learning outcomes and performance expectations designated for students and educators. When the content of professional learning integrates student curriculum and educator performance standards, the link between educator learning and student learning becomes explicit, increasing the likelihood that professional learning contributes to increased student learning.  

Meet Performance Standards Address Learning OutcomesBuild Coherence

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Synthesis

Instructional Materials Quality

Well-Designed

Professional

Learning

Improved Teacher

Knowledge, Skills,

DispositionsImproved

Teacher Instructional

Practice

Improved Student

Learning

will

produce

leading

to

resulting

in

affects nature & degree of change

affects nature & degree of change

Administrator/ Program Support

Teacher Implementation and Reflection

will

support