PDF version What Is Effective Professional Development? What Have We Learned About Professional Development? Priciples of High-Quality Professional Development Some Guiding Questions for Selecting Professional Development Activities Lessons from Adult Learning Theory Finding Time for Professional Development What Makes Professional Development Ineffective? Some Alternatives to Short-Term, "One-Size-Fits-All" Workshops |
What Have We Learned About Professional Development?
The research base on professional development has grown significantly in the past 20 years. In 1957, only about 50 studies on the topic were cited by the authors of the 56th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE). A current search of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database since 1978 produced more than 5,600 citations containing professional development as a subject heading.
In a 1989 meta-analysis of existing research and the relevant literature, Sparks and Loucks-Horsley described five effective models of staff development and identified the following characteristics of effective professional development practice:
Research into effective professional development consistently examines implementation of new teaching strategies and behaviors. Joyce and Showers (1996) note that "in the 1970s, evaluations of staff development that focused on teaching strategies and curriculum revealed that as few as 10 percent of the participants implemented what they had learned." In a 1987 synthesis of the research, Showers, Joyce, and Bennett examined the conditions necessary to change teachers’ practice. They proposed a combination of theory, demonstration, practice, and feedback and found that sustained practice was a critical element. "For a complex model of teaching, we estimate that about 25 teaching episodes during which the new strategy is used are necessary before all the conditions of transfer are achieved" (Showers, Joyce, & Bennett, 1987). More recently, a report by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory notes, "It took 13-14 months to turn the teachers around" in a professional development effort that involved changing science teachers’ instructional approach from one focused on science as definition, facts, and theories, to one that used an exploratory process to engage students in activities to develop understanding of science concepts (National Network of Eisenhower Regional Consortia and National Clearinghouse [NNERC], 1997).
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