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Create time for professional learning
By Joan Richardson
Tools for Schools, August/September 2002
Copyright, National Staff Development Council, 2002. All rights reserved.
Teachers at Addison Elementary School in Marietta, Ga., work in a school district that provides substantial opportunities for staff development. But Addison teachers wanted more: They wanted to work together in study groups every week, an activity not covered by the district staff development plan. Because they were saddled with the traditional school schedule, the study groups would have to meet after school unless teachers had another plan.
Principal Carolyn Jurick and the Addison staff approached the school's PTA about supporting cultural arts activities that would involve students but not teachers for one hour every other week. That worked fine for awhile but parents soon tired of the substantial commitment required in that effort and Jurick moved on to Plan B.
In Plan B, Jurick hired subs to cover classrooms for an entire day every other week. The subs worked all day but rotated from classroom to classroom. A study group of six to eight teachers could meet for one hour while subs covered their classrooms.
"At first, teachers thought that was a godsend. But that wore thin after awhile. Even though they were out of their classrooms, they still had to plan for the subs, and they still had to worry about covering lunch," Jurick said.
On to Plan C. In Plan C, Jurick and her staff concocted a plan to have students begin school 10 minutes earlier than other elementary schools and end 10 minutes later--in exchange for releasing students from school at 1:30 p.m. every Wednesday. Teachers would continue to work until at least 3 p.m. and use that time to meet in their study groups.
Four years later, this plan is still working.
"It costs us nothing, and we love it. But we couldn't have done this if we hadn't been able to show that the other ways wouldn't work," Jurick said.
The Addison staff's experience in trying to find time for professional learning offers several significant lessons about the conundrum facing virtually all schools that struggle with this issue:
- Teachers must be flexible and even creative in how they think about their schedules.
- Teachers must be willing to make trade-offs in order to gain what they really want.
- Teachers must be clear about the connection between their own learning and improvements in student learning.
- Teachers must come prepared with Plan B in case Plan A doesn't work.
Although educators are increasingly realizing the value of having teachers work together every day and every week, schools are still burdened with outdated ideas about teachers' and principals' work day and work year. And shaking up that status quo impacts not only teachers but families that have come to expect schools to operate at certain times and in certain ways.
NSDC is clear in its beliefs about this: 25% of an educator's work time should be devoted to professional learning and collaboration with colleagues. But a survey of members in 2000 revealed that no districts had yet reached that level of commitment. Excluding daily planning time, 81% of the respondents to that survey said less than 5% of a teacher's work week was devoted to professional learning.
Even preparation time for teachers is limited, according to Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond. She estimates that most U.S. elementary teachers have three or fewer hours for preparation each week (only 8.3 minutes for every hour in the classroom) and that secondary teachers generally have five prep periods per week (13 minutes per hour of classroom instruction (Darling-Hammond, Journal of Staff Development Spring 1999, p. 33).
Acknowledging the difficulty of the task, NSDC Executive Director Dennis Sparks recommends that schools begin by identifying three to four hours a week--or about 10% of a teacher's work time--for learning and working with peers on improving instruction. "Then schools can begin to experiment with ways to extend that time over the next two or three years to 25% of teachers' work time," he said.
James Madison University professor Michael Rettig, who consults with numerous school districts on scheduling issues, said no district has ever invited him in specifically to find more time for staff development. Typically, districts contact him because they want to find larger blocks of instructional time. If that creates opportunities for staff development, it's a great side benefit, but not the primary focus, he said.
But Rettig said the challenge of finding more time for professional learning is the same as finding larger blocks of instructional time. "The problem is that they're not willing to trade away something in order to get that," Rettig said.
In elementary schools, for example, he said finding common planning time for all teachers in a grade-level is relatively simple. "I can easily create a schedule that would achieve that. But it would mean that teachers might have to lose their individual planning periods on certain days. That's a trade-off that many teachers don't want to make," he said.
When schools do find a schedule they believe will work for them, Rettig urges them to pilot the new plan for a year and, if possible, to pilot several different ideas in the same district before committing.
Mikii Bendotti, who has worked with several Arizona schools to find more professional learning time, cautions that freeing teachers to work together is insufficient. "Once the time is there, teachers need guidance and preparation for how to use it. If it just becomes time for them to sit by themselves and grade papers, then an opportunity for learning has been lost," said Bendotti, executive director of the Arizona Teacher Advancement Program, which is funded by the Milken Foundation.
Teachers need preparation in how to run a meeting, how to set norms for those meetings, how to lead decision making and more. In other words, teachers need staff development in order to prepare for staff development. "That's especially the case when teachers have only experienced a sit-and-get model of staff development," she said.
Bendotti has also learned that it's better to make sacrifices to carve out larger chunks of time that occur less frequently than to have short but more frequent meetings. For example, arranging to have teachers meet for 30 minutes every day is probably less effective than meeting for 45 minutes three times a week.
Like many districts, the Hoover City Schools in suburban Birmingham, Ala., is still searching for the answer to its time puzzle. "We're still struggling to find that perfect model, that perfect solution. But it's not there. You have to think creatively. How do you develop your teachers and safeguard the instructional time for your children? That's the rub," said Deborah Camp, curriculum instruction technology specialist for has been part of discussions where teachers and administrators have been grappling with this issue.
"Here's my dream: Have all teachers work on a 12-month calendar, compensate teachers for that time, and build staff development days right into their work year. If we lengthened the school day for teachers and increased the number of days that teachers work, your time issue would disappear. Doing it any other way, it's always going to be a struggle," Camp said.
Resources
"Finding Time for Collaboration"
Mary Anne Raywid, Educational Leadership, 51(1), September 1993.
Offers 10 strategies schools are using to create time. Order from ASCD, (800) 933-2723."Making Time for Teacher Professional Development"
Ismat Abdal-Haqq, ERIC Clearinghouse, October 1996.
Answers seven frequently asked questions regarding creating time for professional development. Order Digest # 95-4 from ERIC, (202) 293-2450, Price: $4.
Available online at www.ericsp.org/pages/digests/making_time_teacher_pro_dev_95-4.html.Prisoners of Time
National Commission on Time and Learning. Washington, DC: Author, 1994.
Key national report on time in schools. Order from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Supt. of Documents, Mail Stop, SSOP, Washington DC, 20402-9328; (202) 783-3238; Stock No. 065-000-00640-5. Price: $5.50.
Available online at www.ed.gov/pubs/PrisonersOfTime/"Scheduling Time to Maximize Staff Development Opportunities"
Brenda Tanner, Robert Canady, and Michael Rettig, Journal of Staff Development, 16(4), Fall 1995.
Provides examples of how high schools can structure time to improve instruction and professional learning."Smart Use of Time and Money"
Joan Richardson, Journal of Staff Development, 18(1), Winter 1997.
Explores the issue of resources for professional learning. Available online at www.nsdc.org/library/jsd/richardson181.cfm.Teachers Take Charge of Their Learning: Transforming Professional Development for Student Success
National Foundation for Innovation in Education (now the NEA Foundation for Innovation in Education). Washington, DC: Author, 1996.
Addresses rationale for teacher development work and the relationship between teacher learning and student learning. Order from NFIE Publications, P.O. Box 509, West Haven, CT, 06516. Price: $15.
Available online at www.nfie.org/publications/takecharge_full.htm"The Time Dilemma in School Restructuring"
Gary D. Watts and Shari Castle, Phi Delta Kappan, 75(1), December 1993.
Identifies five primary ways that innovative schools "found" time for professional learning. Order from PDK, (812) 339-1156.Time for Reform
Susanna Purnell and Paul Hill. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1992.
Identifies six strategies schools use to provide time for reform. Order online at www.rand.org/education/pubs/reform.prior.html. Price: $7.
Text available online at www.goodschools.gwu.edu/researchdb/PDFDocs/ED/354/595/ED354595.PDF"Time: Squeeze, Carve, Apply, Target, Use, Arrange, for Adult Learning"
Time for Staff Development: Library Category
Journal of Staff Development, 20(2), Spring 1999.
The entire issue of the Spring 1999 Journal of Staff Development is devoted to exploring varous issues related to use of time in schools. Order from NSDC Business Office, (800) 727-7288 or through NSDC Online Bookstore, store.nsdc.org.
This section of NSDC's web site offers links to additional articles and web links related to effectively finding and using time for professional development.
www.nsdc.org/library/resources/time.cfm
Click for NSDC Home Page