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Evaluating Teacher Professional Development (PD) 

College Lecture Scene

Overview

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Class

What is teacher professional development (PD)? 

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Teacher PD is any thing you do to help teachers learn and grow.  Examples include training regarding:

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  • Classroom management.

  • Lesson Study.

  • Increasing relevance.

  • Integrating technology.

  • Differentiated instruction.

  • Teaching Math through problem solving.

  • Improving teacher / student relationships.

  • Increasing academic rigor.

  • Other topics.​​​​​​

Teacher Assisting Student

Why is teacher professional development (PD) evaluation important?

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Better teacher PD evaluation leads to better PD and better educational outcomes.  This includes better:

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  • ​Standardized test scores.

  • Attendance & engagement.

  • Graduation rates.

  • Student behavior. 

  • College & career outcomes.

  • Climate and culture. 

  • Parent satisfaction.

  • Teacher satisfaction & retention.

  • Other outcomes.​​​​​​

Kids Walking Backpacks

How do I avoid teacher PD evaluation mistakes & problems?​
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Do NOT rely too heavily on any of the following when evaluating teacher PD.​

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  • Your intuitions and hunches.

  • Quick, data dashboard analyses by people who are NOT trained in educational research.

  • The assumption that staff buy-in & implementation will happen without significant effort.

  • One-size-fits-all teacher PD evaluations that claim to work for every school and situation.

Boy Reading Book

How do I conduct good teacher PD evaluations?

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  • Use intuition to help evaluate teacher PD, but support intuition with data whenever possible.

  • Have an objective third party help you evaluate & improve current and potential new PD efforts.

  • Use a team of evaluators with expertise in all relevant teacher PD research & evaluation areas.  

  • Allocate appropriate resources to evaluating & improving teacher PD and staff buy-in & implementation.

  • Avoid cookie cutter teacher PD evaluation approaches that may not work well for all of your unique schools.

Please create a photo of an attractive, Mexican, boy student . Please have the Mexican, b

Who should I work with for teacher PD evaluation?

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  • We recommend working with Sprelp - Program Evaluation and Data Help for Schools.

  • Sprelp staff have training from Yale University and other top universities.

  • Sprelp staff have decades of experience helping Chicago Public Schools and other districts. 

  • Sprelp staff have won awards for their program evaluation and data use work.

  • Sprelp staff have been invited to speak at the AASA National Conference on Education.

  • Sprelp staff can help you evaluate & improve teacher PD now (and not have regrets later).

Schedule a Brief Meeting Now!

Get your questions answered & learn quick & easy ways to start.

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