Recently I had the opportunity to speak at an American Youth Policy Forum event titled, "Rethinking Professional Development: Comprehensive Approaches to Ensuring Effective Teaching." The forum gave me not only the opportunity to share NSDC's new definition for professional development, but also to highlight specific actions states might take to help ensure long-term positive outcomes from teacher professional learning. I share seven ideas here, and seek your opinions regarding them.

1. Rethink state-level planning requirements. Many states require schools and districts to provide professional development plans, which in some cases must be approved by county or school boards. Often these plans get filed, and their outcomes are rarely revisited; simply developing and submitting them fulfills the requirement. What if this entire process was shifted from requiring planning documents to requiring evaluation documents?

2. Refocus individual professional growth plans. Most states require individual professional growth plans. Under the best-case scenario, teachers in a school or team write their plans together following an examination of student data and a determination of where they need to focus their learning. More common, however, is that teachers outline their learning plans based on their individual needs or interests, then return to school to implement them in isolation, making it highly unlikely they will get the support necessary for successful improvement. A simple shift from requiring individual plans to team plans would address the breakdown between initial learning and follow-up support.

3. Define and evaluate staff development according to standards. In an effort to demonstrate their understanding of its importance, 40 states have adopted standards for professional development. Very few states, however, have gone to any effort to assess the degree to which the professional development educators experience aligns with the state adopted standards. Merely adopting standards does not improve practice.

4. Support creative scheduling. Collaborative learning time benefits teachers and students. Most state leaders agree that time for collaborative learning increases the likelihood that students benefit from the collective expertise of those within the school, and that effective practices are likely to spread from classroom to classroom and school to school. Yet states eliminate professional development days, reject waivers to change school schedules, and go so far as to mandate minutes for various subjects. Consider incentives that encourage rather than discourage flexibility scheduling.

5. Prioritize funding for professional development. Funding is essential for professional development, yet only two states have established line items in their budgets to ensure districts have dedicated resources for professional development. Even in those states, educators feel they must fight each year to protect the less than two-percent allocation. Establish line items to demonstrate the priority status of professional development.

6. Focus capacity building efforts on instructional leadership. Increasingly, research shows that effective schools are led by skillful principals who understand their roles as instructional leaders, and that school-wide and team-based learning are only as successful as the facilitation and leadership provided. Promoting student growth should include addressing these leaders' new roles and responsibilities, for which many of them were not initially prepared.

7. Retain great teachers with substantive career options. How many ex-teachers would still be in the classroom if, from day one, they were provided with a vision for a career that combined teaching, learning and leadership? These three elements are crucial to the newest generation of teachers. Teacher leaders must demonstrate effectiveness in the classroom, then help support other teachers in achieving similar results.

Stephanie Hirsh is NSDC's Executive Director. You can access the complete transcript of Stephanie's American Youth Policy Forum presentation here.