Converge and the Center for Digital Education hosted a meeting in Denver last week designed to spark ideas for innovative uses of ARRA funds. As I listened to some of the ideas being generated from both the public and private sectors, I found myself comparing the criteria for ARRA innovation grants with NSDC's definition of professional development. The parallels were striking.

Collaboration was the buzzword of the day. Innovation grants are available to community agencies, non-profit organizations, local education agencies, and higher education providers that partner to increase impact within their communities. In NSDC's definition of professional development, collective responsibility is the foundation upon which our theory of change rests. Each part of the community works together to maximize impact on student learning. Collaboration is the currency of collective responsibility.

Innovation was also at the tip of everyone's tongues. How can we break the mold of doing the same thing and getting the same results? By using ARRA funds to jumpstart innovative programs that can be sustained over time, building capacity of human capital, and investing in infrastructure, we have a stronger base for future effort. In education, too, we are exploring innovative practices and data systems to provide relevant and timely data to shape instruction. NSDC's definition calls for cycles of continuous improvement, beginning with data analysis and including implementation and evaluation of innovative practices to reach the learning needs of every student. This cycle includes examining data, setting goals, learning, changing practice, evaluating results, and adapting practice.

The corporations, government agencies, community colleges, charter schools, public schools, and community action groups represented in Denver highlighted that change in how we serve our communities comes most productively through cross-agency interaction. In public schools, and especially in professional learning, we break down artificial barriers between classrooms, levels of schools, and between the school and the community. We tap external expertise to infuse new ideas and bring research into conversations about how to help each student achieve. In professional learning, external providers can serve in this role, as long as their motives are focused on results for students, not stockholders or partners.

Student success increasingly depends on innovation, effective professional learning, cross-agency learning and idea generating, and community-wide efforts to promote effective education for each student. Schools will be stronger if their staffs seek opportunities to bring new ideas into the school, bridge gaps between schools and other community agencies, and build broader and stronger webs of support for student success. Professional learning seeks to bring educators together to generate new ideas, close gaps between and among classrooms, departments, and grade and school levels, tap expertise both inside and outside the school, and seek opportunities to solve complex problems of practice through learning, reflective practice, and evaluation.

Joellen Killion is NSDC's Deputy Executive Director.