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How do you ensure teacher professional development makes a difference? During the edLeader Panel “Securing Student Success Through Transformative Teacher PD,” seasoned pros from schools across the U.S. rolled up their sleeves and answered the most pressing questions about transforming teacher training.

If you want to provide meaningful content that translates to classroom strategies and student success, then model best practices for teaching and learning. No firehose approach at the beginning of the school year or a one-size-fits-all, stand-at-the-front-of-the-room-and-talk-at approach.

“We’re educators,” said Tiffany Caouette, Assistant Executive Director of CAS-CIAC and former Connecticut Association of Schools High School Assistant Principal of the Year. “Everything we do is related to personalization with students, and it really should be the same for teachers and administrators. It’s about relevance, it’s about connection. Listen to your audience, survey your audience, find out what their needs are, what their goals are, and honor that,” she said.

“If we want to reach our audiences, we need to find a way to communicate effectively,” said Fred Cochran, Coordinator for UDL Implementation at the San Joaquin County Office of Education, CA. This includes recognizing learning differences amongst educators, building dialogue and participation, and trying out these proven strategies that the panelists shared.

Do More Than Fill the Day—Motivate for the Year!

Smart planning gives purpose, motivates busy educators to stick to training throughout the year, and provides direction for diving deeper into the kinds of strategies and hands-on collaboration educators crave. “We started something called PD Pathways,” said Dr. Leanna Mullen, Student Data Coordinator for Egg Harbor Township School District, NJ.

Everyone in a professional learning community is assigned one of four different pathways. Pathways include key themes like Tier 3 interventions, Tier 1 assessments, and behavior skills. Educators get a little 20-minute introduction at the beginning of the school year, but then meet in small groups throughout the rest of the year to dive deeper into the themes.

Personalize, Personalize, Personalize 

Make it easy for educators to learn how they learn best. For example, Dr. Mullen described new research that offers insight on generational learning styles, from the bite-sized content bits and highly visual needs of Gen Z to the active involvement millennials prefer. “Finding ways that are going to be engaging to multiple generations or giving people options for what works best for them is essential,” she said.

“Last year we had an AI day,” she explained. Leaders offered options from a very beginner level to supporting teachers who wanted to brainstorm creative uses in the classroom, giving voice and choice to get the training they needed.

At CAS-CIAC, educators are surveyed at the beginning of the year. “We find out what our teachers want, going back to that voice and choice of what they are looking for this year,” said Caouette.

Be Different

Including everyone is a challenge. “Often I see schools doing PD for classroom teachers and then your other teachers, interventionists, PE teachers, art teachers, just join a group,” said Caouette. Instead, think outside the box. Consider connecting them and general education teachers with professionals outside of the district for different perspectives, building online PLCs, providing content in different formats, including online discussions, webcasts, in-person meetings, small groups, and more.

“You can’t buy time. You have to make the best use of time,” said Cochran, pointing out that the San Joaquin County Office of Education moved many statewide events to lunchtime for better attendance, including the innovative UDL Coalition Network series. “We learn from each other… it just invigorates us and makes us motivated to do more when we hear what’s happening outside our own building,” he said.

Egg Harbor Township School District found a simple but very effective use of Google Classroom. “We have a Google Classroom set up for each one of our buildings. And in that Google Classroom, we call it our Faculty Room, we post all the recordings from different events we’ve had,” said Dr. Mullen. The archive gives complete flexibility for educators to find information, whether they missed the event, want to review, or get up to speed when onboarding.

Remember, the Stakes Are High

Educators are leaving the field at alarming rates. Teacher training must become more purposeful, reflective, resourceful, authentic, strategic, and action-oriented, Cochran explained. “If we keep doing it the way we’ve always done it and it’s not engaging to teachers and it’s not meaningful and some generations don’t feel valued, they’re going to leave,” remarked Caouette.

Learn more about this edWeb broadcast, Securing Student Success Through Transformative Teacher PD, sponsored by Sched.

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Article by Suzanne Bell, based on this edLeader Panel