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Investments in teacher learning reap student achievement benefits

By Dennis Sparks
RESULTS - April 1999

What teachers know about the subjects they teach and the latest methods for teaching those subjects is crucial to high levels of student learning. That's the conclusion of numerous reports and studies over the past several years. In fact, a study by Ronald Ferguson found that every additional dollar spent on more highly qualified teachers produced greater increases in student achievement than did other less instructionally-oriented uses of school resources.

While districts must do all they can to hire, retain, and appropriately assign outstanding teachers, superintendents and school board members also must ensure that teachers participate in career-long staff development. The value of such professional development was underscored in a study by the University of Michigan's David Cohen and others. The researchers found that California teachers who participated in sustained professional development based on mathematics curriculum standards were more likely to use reform-oriented teaching practices and have students who achieved at higher levels on the state mathematics test.

Well designed teacher development changes classroom practice and improves student learning. School board members and superintendents make many important decisions that affect the quality of staff development. Here are some suggestions for designing a powerful staff development program:

• Set clear and high standards for the learning of all students. Staff development is effective only when it is focused on student learning goals and the changes in practice required to achieve those goals.
• Include student achievement and the provision of high quality staff development in the annual performance evaluation of the superintendent and principals. Hold them accountable for the improved learning of all students and for providing the means by which teachers can continually improve their teaching.
• Invest in teacher learning. While most districts are not yet able to devote at least 10 percent of their budgets to staff development as recommended by NSDC, many school systems are committing at least five percent to that area.
• Review school improvement plans to determine whether the plans clearly focus on student learning and whether the methods they specify for reaching those goals are sufficiently robust to achieve the intended results.
• Involve all teachers in the continued, intellectually rigorous study of the content they teach and the ways they teach it.
• Embed opportunities for professional learning in the daily schedule of teachers. NSDC advocates that at least 25 percent of teachers' time be devoted to their own learning and to collaboration with colleagues. Organize teachers' schedules so teams of teachers who share responsibility for the learning of all their students can meet regularly to plan lessons, critique students' work, and solve common problems of teaching.
• Provide teachers with classroom assessment and other action research skills that allow them to determine on a regular basis if student learning has improved because of their new knowledge and skills.
• Recognize the importance of skillful leadership in schools and at the district level. Designing a system in which all students and staff members perform at high levels requires leaders who have a deep understanding of instruction, curriculum, assessment, and the organizational factors that affect student learning.

While the effects of well-designed and thoughtfully -conducted staff development might not show up immediately on state tests, learning gains will become quickly evident to teachers as they assess students' day-to-day learning. These improvements will occur, though, only when teacher learning is focused on clear targets for student learning and is based upon what is known about effective staff development. Our students deserve no less.