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Standards' framework shows links among parts

By Joellen Killion
RESULTS - September 1998

The context-process-content framework of the NSDC Standards for Staff Development organizes a wealth of information culled from years of research about quality staff development. This nested arrangement of standards results from the seminal synthesis of research on staff development published in 1983 by Georgea Mohlman Sparks (Langer). Such seminal research typically occurs years before practical application of the work. This research establishes a framework that organizes the standards and demonstrates their intercon-nectedness.

Content standards
The content standards are the core representing the importance of "what" teachers learn. Content standards reflect the core or fundamental professional knowledge that all educators must possess regardless of their specialization or their role in an organization. They define what every educator must know and be able to do to work effectively with students, their families, and the school community.

In the NSDC standards, there are slight differences among the elementary, middle, and high school content standards because of the developmental differences among students and the appropriate educational practices for each age group.

Beyond this baseline knowledge, staff development content must relate to student achievement, deepen teachers' content knowledge, and extend their content-specific pedagogical process.
In designing staff development content, we should ask ourselves what students need to know and be able to do to be successful in a democratic society. Then we ask what teachers need to know and do to help students achieve those standards.

Answers to the latter question shape the content of staff development beyond the foundational knowledge of the profession.

Process standards
Process standards establish expectations for the design and delivery of staff development by enumerating what we know about effective adult learning in schools. These standards establish quality indicators for adult learning for those who design, deliver, and monitor staff development programs.

How learning experiences are structured influences their effect as much or more than their content. Adult learning experiences must be collaborative, be meaningful, be embedded within the workday, incorporate multiple models of learning, and address the stages of change.

These adult learning experiences should be structured so they model the expectations of what teachers should do with students in their classrooms.

Context standards
Context standards describe a supportive learning environment and the essential qualities of a learning organization. Context standards outline the conditions for quality adult learning.

• The culture in which learning takes place must:
  
• Support continuous learning;
  
• Provide strong leadership that values learning;
  
• Align individual learning goals with the school s and district s strategic plan and goals;
  
• Provide adequate time for learning; and
  
• Acknowledge staff development as essential to the school reform process.

Without a supportive learning environment, learners will hesitate to experiment with new learning, to risk implementing new strategies that may cause temporary discomfort and loss of effectiveness, or to make long-term changes in their practices.

The standards establish the expectation of excellence in staff development; the context-process-content framework gives us a meaningful way to talk about the standards and to see how they relate to one another.