NSDC Resolutions

The National Staff Development Council Board of Trustees has approved the following resolutions on critical staff development issues.

Resolution 1: Time and other resources for staff development

The National Staff Development Council believes that high quality staff development is essential to school reform and that school systems have an obligation to ensure that employees are thoroughly prepared to successfully discharge their responsibilities. Time for these activities can often be provided via extensive on-the-job opportunities and collaborative work which require no additional resources.

Therefore, the National Staff Development Council recommends that school systems dedicate at least 10 percent of their budgets to staff development and that at least 25 percent of an educator's work time be devoted to learning and collaboration with colleagues.

Resolution 2: Alternative staff development approaches

The National Staff Development Council believes that high quality staff development is essential for initiating and sustaining school reform. Continuous improvement on the part of individuals and organizations is required to refine skills, inquire into practice, construct knowledge, and create self-renewing learning organizations. Adult learning in schools can, and should, take many forms if it is to achieve its maximum impact, and is most powerful when it is in response to the immediate challenges of teaching and learning.

Therefore, the National Staff Development Council recommends the various forms of job-embedded learning (e.g., peer coaching, study groups, action research, the joint planning of lessons, analyzing student work, participation in a network) as important components of a comprehensive staff development program.

Resolution 3: Integrating staff development within strategic and school improvement planning

The National Staff Development Council believes that successful school reform results when individual and organizational goals are aligned and coherent. Successful changes in classroom practices which benefit all students requires changes in organizational processes and structures.

The National Staff Development Council recommends that staff development be integrated into systemwide strategic and school improvement planning and that it be viewed as essential to the success of those efforts.

Resolution 4: Results-driven, standards-based staff development

The National Staff Development Council believes that results driven, standards-based education requires results-driven, standards based staff development for all employees who are responsible for student learning. Those responsible for staff development must focus their efforts on improving the ability of educators, schools, and school systems to prepare all students to meet high academic standards.

The National Staff Development Council recommends that standards-based student learning and professional standards for educators guide the planning and implementation of standards-based staff development. In addition, the Council recommends evaluating staff development efforts to determine their effects on students, educators, schools, and school systems.

Resolution 5: Assessment of staff development within systemic educational reform

The National Staff Development Council believes that because staff development is an essential component of systemic educational reform, staff developers are obligated to determine its effects upon individual performance, organizations, and the improved learning of all students.

The National Staff Development Council recommends that assessment begin in planning staff development and that assessment contribute both to improving staff development and determining its impact on student learning, employee performance, and organizational effectiveness. The Council also recommends that assessment of student learning include various sources of evidence in addition to test scores.

Resolution 6: Integrating technology and staff development

The National Staff Development Council believes effective use of technology to promote high levels of learning for all students requires integrating technology into a standards-based instructional program and providing teachers with abundant professional development related to its instructional uses. NSDC also believes teachers should be provided with time to learn, plan, and practice what they have learned.

Therefore, the Council recommends devoting at least 30 percent of the technology budget to teacher development and initiating teacher learning simultaneously with purchase of the technology.

Resolution 7: The role of districts and external assistance providers in supporting school-focused professional learning

The National Staff Development Council believes that high levels of learning for all students requires that schools be the center of individual and collective professional learning. The Council also believes that school district offices and external assistance providers play a vital role in school reform when they assist schools and districts in achieving their goals and increasing teachers' and administrators' capacities for continuous improvement.

Therefore, the Council recommends that school systems:

• assume responsibility for the development of the knowledge and practices of school leadership that create and maintain cultures of professional learning and collaboration;
• provide adequate resources for collaborative professional learning focused on the core tasks of teaching and learning; and
• establish policies that guide and support school-based professional learning and the assessment of its effectiveness.

The Council further recommends that education agencies, universities, and other external assistance providers:

• align their services with district and school goals;
• engage schools in ways that promote professional judgement and self determination; and
• develop in teachers and administrators the knowledge, practices, and attitudes that enable continuous improvement in teaching and learning after external services cease.