Effective Professional Development: A Different Approach

2009-02-17T10:43:00.000-08:00

Have you ever asked yourself why U.S. students routinely post below-average scores compared to students in Europe and Asia? It seems puzzling when you consider that American teachers spend more working hours in classrooms than teachers in the top-performing European and Asian countries like Finland, Japan, Singapore, and Sweden. While there is no evidence to directly connect these countries’ professional-development activities to their students’ scores on international tests, it makes sense that there is a link between how U.S. teachers are trained and the quality of teaching and learning that takes place in their classrooms.

In the U.S., the typical professional development program focuses on the teacher needs instead of students’ needs. American teachers are usually involved in short one-day and two-day one shot workshops instead of ongoing, sustained in-service programs that occur during the entire school year. Their programs mostly take place away from school instead of in school-based settings and U.S. teachers normally work in isolation instead of collaborating with other teachers.

In countries where students perform well on international achievement tests, teachers are empowered to collaborate with their peers and share their knowledge and experiences to improve classroom instruction. In fact, they spend less time teaching than U.S teachers. Did you know that U.S. teachers spend about 80 percent of their working time teaching students while for most industrialized countries; the figure is only 60 percent?

In these countries, professional learning is a part of teachers’ day-to-day activities and they share it other teachers. Lesson planning in the United States averages between three and five hours a week and is typically scheduled independent of other teachers rather than coordinated with other teachers’ schedules. In most European and Asian countries, teachers spend 15 to 20 hours a week on those activities and this time is coordinated with other teachers and it generally takes place in collaboration with them.

The key to improving students’ performance seems to be learning to work smarter not harder. Recognizing that teachers are also working when they are outside the classroom as well as when they are in the classroom teaching kids, that working as a team makes everyone more effective and focusing on students’ needs and learning to meet them on a long term consistent basis makes for better teaching and improved student learning.

First Newsletter

2008-10-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our newest addition to the OCSU website. We'll be updating our blog with newsletters, updates, and announcements. Stay tuned!

OCSU Newsletter

Effective Professional Development: A Different Approach

First Newsletter