Districtwide Professional Development Planning

Today's school leaders require, but do not often attain, "serious and sustained opportunities to cultivate the skills associated with instructional leadership and the building of professional communities." (Sparks, 2002) Leadership development is best provided as part of a comprehensive districtwide plan. A good plan ensures that:

Thoughtful goal-setting, budgeting, implementation, assessment, and adjustment are employed.
Standards and data help to drive the agenda.
Program offerings are aligned with the schools' academic goals and with the leadership needs of the program participants.
Adequate resources and time are available for learning and reflection.
Development is job-embedded and continuous, not an add-on or one-shot experience.

Goals for student learning and other objectives are of little use without proper planning. And much of the key resources that a school leader needs originate at the district level. Districtwide planning can and should be employed to a wide variety of ends-from investments in technology, to school construction, to suicide prevention, as well as leadership development. Elements common to districtwide plans include setting goals, assembling a team to devise the plan, involving the larger community, establishing and keeping track of the budget for the plan, delineating phases or stages of operation within the plan, assigning responsibility for various aspects of successful completion of the work, and regular assessment of progress.

A school principal should be aware of how his or her school fits into districtwide plans, the benefits that can accrue to the school from active participation, and the costs, especially in terms of their own and staff/teacher time and effort. Principals themselves may be called upon to participate in the planning as well as the resulting programming.

Stages of Districtwide Professional Development Planning

Initiating a Plan

Planning cannot begin in earnest until a team of district officials and key players is assembled to consider the issue at hand. It is strongly suggested that team members agree from the start to "be willing to abide by the key goals and a mission statement, and avoid turf wars that could lead to frustration, escalating costs and a failed project." (Lopez & Ruck) Planners should be careful to "align" project goals "with the school district's mission and philosophy statements." (McAdamis) Both local wisdom and conditions and the work of experts in the field should be called upon in setting goals.

Of course, any significant change requires a large investment. Bracci suggests that budgeting "correctly and wisely upfront is key," because, once set, budgets are often immune to change, so that "the money has to be adequate through the remainder of the program." Writing specifically about technology, he asserts that through a districtwide plan "a district gains an understanding of its needs, the systems that respond to those needs, and the all-important cost information necessary to generate funds and schedule an implementation program."

Gaining and Maintaining Support

Districtwide leadership development plans should be crafted by a select team, but with significant input from community sources. Also, once a plan is established, it is best for the team to share the plan with a wider net of stakeholders than those who actively participated in the planning. Educating district administrators, principals, teachers, parents, students and other community members about the plan, its goals, and its approach and gaining their support for the plan can set the stage for still more community members to value and sustain the plan. Support, once gained, must be nurtured through regular communications with stakeholders. (McAdamis)

Implementation

Good planning answers the questions of how, when, what amount and where, and answers these questions through "scheduled and phased implementation." (Bracci) To have a chance at success, districtwide plans should be able to accommodate varying readiness, missions, and needs from one school to another. Regular team meetings should not end with the initial planning stages, but should continue throughout implementation. Successful implementation requires assigning responsibility to those who will do the work.

Assessment and Adjustment

A study of professional development plans finds that districts wherein "processes were continually updated and refined, but the direction stayed the same" were most successful. They displayed a "constancy" with regard to the "schoolwide purpose" which in turn is "aligned to the established purpose of the district." (Marshall et. al.) Still, this does not diminish the importance of periodic review of the plan to "monitor and adjust its strengths and weaknesses" (McAdamis) and accommodate "changes in enrollment, demographics, educational directions, mandated programs, technology, curriculum and delivery." (Rydeen & Erickson) Skillful use of data can be a "cost effective and purposeful" means for "mid-course corrections, adjusting plans and adding support where needed." (Sanborn)

ISLLC's Collaborative Professional Development Process for School Leaders (CPDP), a "performance-based assessment that addresses the needs of schools or districts while enhancing the professional growth of school leaders" are a useful guide for professional development planners. CPDP calls for:

Establishing personal and professional development goals that emphasize teaching and learning and are consistent with school improvement goals, district goals, and the ISLLC Standards.
Identifying a team of colleagues to serve as the collaborative professional development team.
Presenting the professional development plan to the professional development team, receiving feedback, and making revisions.
Preparing professional development portfolios that address specific needs or challenges and include reflections.
Presenting work products to professional development teams to receive additional feedback that will help school leaders refine ideas, critique and further develop products, and continue to monitor progress toward achieving professional development goals.
Engaging in continuous reflection and reexamination of the professional development plan, leading to a summative self-evaluation, a critique of the plan by the team, and revision of the plan to begin the process anew. (Shipman & Murphy)

Districtwide Professional Development Content and Best Practices

The National Staff Development Council's (NSDC) Standards for Staff Development provide a solid foundation for the substance and form of a professional development plan for school leaders. (See the "Standards for School Leaders" section of the e-Lead site for other useful standards sets.)

National Staff Development Council's Standards for Staff Development (Revised):

Context Standards
- Learning Communities: Staff development that improves the learning of all students organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district.
- Leadership: Staff development that improves the learning of all students requires skillful school and district leaders who guide continuous instructional improvement.
- Resources: Staff development that improves the learning of all students requires resources to support adult learning and collaboration.
Process Standards
- Data-Driven: Staff development that improves the learning of all students uses disaggregated student data to determine adult learning priorities, monitor progress, and help sustain continuous improvement.
- Evaluation: Staff development that improves the learning of all students uses multiple sources of information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impact.
- Research-Based: Staff development that improves the learning of all students prepares educators to apply research to decision making.
- Design: Staff development that improves the learning of all students uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal.
- Learning: Staff development that improves the learning of all students applies knowledge about human learning and change.
- Collaboration: Staff development that improves the learning of all students provides educators with the knowledge and skills to collaborate.
Content
- Equity: Staff development that improves the learning of all students prepares educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement.
- Quality Teaching: Staff development that improves the learning of all students deepens educators' content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately.
- Family Involvement: Staff development that improves the learning of all students provides educators with knowledge and skills to involve families and other stakeholders appropriately.

NSDC's "Standards for Staff Development (Revised)" suggests a host of school district uses for these standards. Some, not all, of these uses are:

Organize a committee to analyze the context of the standards to create plans to ensure district context factors are in place to support staff development efforts.
Establish a process for ensuring that the standards are applied whenever program improvements are being considered.
Create an action plan to ensure the implementation of the standards.
Organize a districtwide staff development committee with representatives from all departments and school levels to compare current practice against the standards and to establish a comprehensive plan for implementation of the standards.
Establish model programs that demonstrate the application of the standards in practice.
Identify and publicize schools that are successful in the application of particular standards.
Post the standards and use as reference in all improvement conversations.
Disseminate the standards to parents and other stakeholders so they know what to expect in a quality staff development program.
Present a resolution to the school board to adopt the standards.
Align school district staff development policies with the standards.

Jane Sanborn argues for the use of student achievement data as a driver of professional development.

"For many districts, the movement toward data-based decision making comes after realizing that random acts of professional development do not lead to sustained school improvement. If a district does not base continuing education decisions on careful examination of its data, then fads and good marketing campaigns are more likely to set the agenda."

Data can help district planners to assess the "results of their past investments" before they make new plans or decide to apply past practice in the year ahead. District planning teams are advised to "review their goals and sift through assessment data to identify … problem areas, update action plans and target professional development." (Sanborn)

Promising practices for participants in professional development programs for leaders include:

Principal study groups: Such groups help participants to "delve deeply into the most important instructional issues in their schools." (Sparks 2000) Study groups may also choose to meet with relevant district workers. In one case, this lead to "the development of a common philosophy for principals and central office staff members" and a "resultant care, respect, and trust cultivated among the principals and between them and the central office. (Marshall et al)
Visits to other schools: Principals should strive "regularly to learn about outstanding practice and critique and support one another's improvement efforts. (Sparks 2000)
Coaching and Mentoring: New and seasoned principals can benefit from coaching on skills including "working with teachers to improve instruction, analyzing data, and critiquing student work." (Sparks 2000)
Reflection: Keeping a journal, having one on one conversations with peers, and finding time to ponder objectives, problems, and progress are ways to be sure that lessons learned through professional development stay with and have meaning for the individual learner.

To be effective, professional development should be backed by appropriate follow-up from trainers and job-embedded so that "training is an expected part of contracted, professional activity, not an add-on requirement." (Marshall et al)

Obstacles and Dubious Paths

There are a number of difficulties to overcome for leadership development to work. For one, program participants "may be skeptical, intimidated and concerned with change." (Rydeen & Erickson) In fact, in "interviews with principals and central office personnel in 27 states, 40 school districts and more than 130 schools," William Webster found that principal's displayed a near "total concentration on their own schools" and a "lack of interest in district goals and objectives." He further laments that though "[h]igh school principals are hard-working, conscientious and committed to doing good things for students" they are also "isolated from each other, and often have only tenuous communications with the central office."

Webster calls for better communication and cooperation among these groups and agreed upon standards for principal competencies within a district. Hoover City Schools in Alabama found one way to abate tensions between a school and the district is to establish "site-based councils" to "control staff development decisions at the school level, so district leaders are in a position to urge and advise, but not to dictate." (Norton)

Even with ready and willing participants, finding the time to participate fully can be a challenge. Finally, districts often may not muster year in and year out the funds and other resources needed for quality professional development. This amounts to an issue of political will. NSDC Executive Director, Dennis Sparks argues "principal development, which school systems have traditionally given an even lower priority than teacher development, too often turns leaders into passive recipients of information rather than active participants in solving important educational problems." (Sparks 2000)

From 400 hours of interviews with those involved, Marshall et. al. warn against some common professional development practices. First, they find that leaving development choices up to the individual is ineffective, suggesting instead that professional development choices spring from the needs of the school and district so that a "common direction with a specific end in mind" can "guide the initiatives." Second, they find "no evidence that professional development offered through sources outside the district, such as regional service centers or universities, has value." District professionals are preferred, but they suggest at the very least that "outside agencies first work with a district to align their offerings with" the district's mission and improvement efforts." Finally, offering incentives to participate is ineffective. Such "schemes," they argue, amount to bribery and "negate the belief that professional development is a job-embedded expectation."

"The development of principals cannot continue to be the neglected stepchild of state and district professional development efforts. It must be standards-focused, sustained, intellectually rigorous, and embedded in the principal's workday. Nothing less will lead to high levels of learning and performance by all students and teachers." (Sparks, 2002)

References

Bracci, Richard L., "It's in the Plan." American School & University v. 71 no11 (July 1999) p. 36.
Lopez, Robert.; Ruck, James A., "Districtwide Designs." American School & University v. 75 no3 (Nov. 2002) p. 341–2, 344.
Marshall, Jon C.; Pritchard, Ruie J. Gunderson, Betsey H. "Professional Development: What Works and What Doesn't." Principal Leadership (High School Ed.) v. 1 no6 (Feb. 2001) p. 64–8.
McAdamis, Sue., "A District-wide Plan for Acceleration and Enrichment." Gifted Child Today (Waco, Tex.: 2000) v. 23 no3 (May/June 2000) p. 20–7.
Norton, John., "Grounded in Research." Journal of Staff Development v. 22 no3 (Summer 2001) p. 30–2.
Rydeen, James E.; Erickson, Paul W. "Looking at the Long Range." American School & University v. 75 no3 (Nov. 2002) p. 352–3.
Sanborn, Jane. "Targeted Training." School Administrator v. 59 no11 (Dec. 2002) p. 16–19.
Shipman, Neil J.; Murphy, Joseph. "Standards For School Leaders: Gaining Momentum" Principal Leadership (High School Ed.) v. 1 no6 (Feb. 2001) p. 69–70.
Sparks, Dennis. "High-powered Professional Development for High-poverty Schools." Principal Leadership (High School Ed.) v. 1 no4 (Dec. 2000) p. 26–9.
Sparks, Dennis. "Designing Powerful Professional Development for Teachers and Principals. National Staff Development Council, Oxford, Ohio, 2002.
"Standards for Staff Development (Revised)." National Staff Development Council, Oxford, Ohio, 2001.
Webster, William E., "Effectiveness and Accountability in the Educational Archipelago."
Thrust for Educational Leadership v. 26 (Oct. 1996) p. 28–31.