eSchool News Seven Standards for Effective Professional Development

This article by eSchool News Associate Editor, Meris Stansbury, discusses how collaborative teamwork among teachers is a key to 21-st century student achievement. She shares Learning Forward’s seven standards for professional learning that increase teacher effectiveness and results for all students.

• Learning Communities: Groups of teachers who are committed to continuous improvement, shared responsibility, and collective goal alignment.
• Leadership: Skillful leaders who develop capacity, advocate, and create support systems for professional learning.
• Resources: Prioritizing, monitoring, and coordinating resources for professional learning.
• Data: Using a variety of sources and types of student, educator, and school system data to plan, assess, and evaluate professional learning.
• Learning Designs: Integrating theories, research, and models of human learning to achieve intended outcomes.
• Implementation: Applying research and sustained support for implementation of professional learning to foster long-term change.
• Outcomes: Aligning outcomes with educator performance and student curriculum standards.