Staff Development Exercises Continue to Be Negative

Staff development exercises continue to be negative for teachers. The topics are found to be irrelevant to the teachers' needs and there is poor follow up. Hampton and Purcell (2006) encountered difficulty trying to improve staff development in their school district. They therefore gathered approximately 120 teachers to a series of discussions to hear from them how staff development could be made more meaningful. They gathered a wide representation of teachers- from urban and suburban, elementary, middle and high school, and representations of gender and race.

From all the discussions they presented suggestions to improve staff development, with a common theme of aligning the training to the realities of the classroom. The teachers also requested that they be informed, preferably beforehand, of the district's goals and plans for the staff development. Packages of print information should be provided by the principal. This package could include data that underlines the importance of the topic of the staff development. The principal's commitment should be demonstrated by a long- term plan which showed the topics and the schedule for staff development sessions for at least 1 -- 3 years. Since relevance of the staff development to the classroom is one of the major problems, deciding on the topics in collaboration with the teachers is important. Finally, the teachers indicated that they needed assurance that there is follow-up to the ideas of the staff development sessions and that there is funding available for implementing the ideas.

The article is very useful since if these suggestions presented by the teachers could be taken seriously there is no doubt that staff development could be more than a 'chore' for teachers. This author agrees with the need for involving teachers in planning for staff development, especially with meeting with the principal before the staff development is scheduled. Too many times teachers are simply presented with a memo on very short notice informing that they are required to attend a staff development or professional day workshop. The article clearly outlines what is needed. It is well written and well organized.

Reference

Purcell, T.L. And Hampton, F.M. (2006). Developing your staff. American School Board

Journal. 193 (12), 30-32

Article # 2 Action Research

Calhoun (2002) is convinced that action research has the "potential to transform professional development "(p. 18). The results of action research include deepening learning and generating data to study how various programs and methods affect students and staff. The article uses the example of a particular teacher, Katie, who improved the reading level of her kindergarten class through an action research study.

However, Katie's action research project was part of a larger project of the state department of education. Calhoun is pointing out that action research can be undertaken as an organizational project by the whole school, district or even the state. She points out that initially teachers may be fearful of being part of an organizational action research project as they will have to juxtapose their own practice and their students' performance with students of higher levels of performance. The benefits of the whole district working together however outweigh this concern. Action research can be used therefore to improve the whole school or even the district. In order for this to work Calhoun suggests obtaining support from the local college or university faculty, and she emphasizes the importance of the commitment of the chief administrator of the school or district. The article then presents an example of a school wide action research matrix which can be applied in schools with a common student learning goal.