Leadership

The standard
The rationale
Annotated bibliography

The standard

The rationale

Staff development leaders come from all ranks of the organization. They include community representatives, school board trustees, administrators, teachers, and support staff.

Principals, superintendents, and other key personnel serve as instructional leaders, artfully combine pressure and support to achieve school and district goals, engage parents and other caretakers in the education of their children, and establish partnerships with key community institutions that promote the welfare of all students. They are clear about their own values and beliefs and the effects these values and beliefs have on others and on the achievement of organizational goals. As primary carriers of the organization's culture, they also make certain that their attitudes and behavior represent the values and practices they promote throughout the school or district.

Skillful leaders establish policies and organizational structures that support ongoing professional learning and continuous improvement. They ensure an equitable distribution of resources to accomplish district goals and continuously improve the school or district's work through the ongoing evaluation of staff development's effectiveness in achieving student learning goals. They make certain that employee contracts, annual calendars, and daily schedules provide adequate time for learning and collaboration as part of the workday. In addition, they align district incentive systems with demonstrated knowledge and skill and improvements in student learning rather than seat-time arrangements such as courses completed or continuing education units earned.

Principals and superintendents also distribute leadership responsibilities among teachers and other employees. Distributed leadership enables teachers to develop and use their talents as members or chairs of school improvement committees, trainers, coaches, mentors, and members of peer review panels. These leaders make certain that their colleagues have the necessary knowledge and skills and other forms of support that ensure success in these new roles. These leaders read widely, participate in learning communities, attend workshops and conferences, and model careerlong learning by making their learning visible to others. All leaders make use of various electronic tools to support their learning and make their work more efficient. They use e-mail, listservs, bulletin boards, Internet, and other electronic means to communicate, locate research and other useful information, and seek assistance in problem solving. They enlist other electronic tools to organize and schedule their work, produce and share documents, and increase their accessibility to colleagues, parents, and community members. Skillful leaders are familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of various electronic learning processes for themselves and others and make certain these processes are appropriately matched to individual and organizational goals.

Annotated bibliography

Barth, R. (2001). Teacher leader. Phi Delta Kappan, 82(6), 443-449. Order through Phi Delta Kappa. Contact Terri Hampton at (800) 766-1156

Roland Barth's article is based on his work with more than 100 teacher leaders in Rhode Island who participated in the Sizer Fellowship Program and in the Rhode Island Teachers and Technology Initiative. He argues that teachers who become leaders experience personal and professional satisfaction, a reduction in isolation, a sense of instrumentality, and new learnings--all of which spill over into their teaching. He discusses many of the benefits of effective teacher leadership, as well as some of the systemic obstacles to it. Finally, he describes some of the roles that principals can play in the process of building effective teacher leadership.

Bodilly, S., Keltner, B., Purnell, S., Reichardt, R., & Schuyler, G. (1998). Lessons from New American Schools' scale-up phase (MR-942.0-NAS). Santa Monica, CA: The Rand Corp.
Read at http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR942/

Established in 1991, the goal of New American Schools is to help schools evolve into organizations of improved learning and increased academic performance. Acknowledging that the implementation of reforms is not an easy task, this RAND study presents findings from the scale up phase (1995-1997) during which NAS collaborated with ten jurisdictions to implement whole school design-based programs. Several "lessons" were learned: 1) the variety and quantity of people involved in the initiative complicates school reform, 2) cooperation and collaboration of schools and districts with the design teams are necessary, and 3) stable leadership and the belief that the effort is important to success are two factors that affect the degree of teacher participation.

Boyd, V. & McGree, K. (1995). Leading change from the classroom: Teachers as leaders. Issues ... about Change, 4 (4). Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
Read at http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues44.html

As schools begin to restructure, teachers are becoming leaders of change. Teacher leaders do not subscribe to hierarchical definitions of leadership, but rather prefer the view of leadership as a collaborative effort. Teachers who become leaders often experience personal gain, intellectual and professional growth, and decreased isolation. There are problems associated with leadership roles, however, including lack of definition of the role, lack of time, and constraints of the school culture. This case study describes the efforts of teacher leaders in one school district to implement change, focusing on one teacher's story of her experience as a teacher leader. Necessary to the success of new teacher roles and responsibilities are vision, structure, time, and skills.

Corcoran, T. & Goertz, M. (1995). Instructional capacity and high performance schools. Educational Researcher, 24(9), 27-31.
Order from AERA by emailing subscriptions@aera.net

The authors suggest that "capacity" means the maximum production of a school or educational system if the product is defined as high quality instruction. The instructional capacity of a school appears to be determined by the intellectual ability, knowledge, and skills of the faculty; the quality and quantity of resources available for teaching; and the social organization of instruction. The authors describe nine issues related to capacity and capacity building drawn from their review of the research literature.

Covey, S. (1990). Principle-centered leadership. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Order from Simon & Schuster's web site: http://www.simonsays.com

Stephen Covey outlines key leadership traits from The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. In developing principle-centered leaders, he emphasizes the need for trust and patience as individuals become involved in paradigm shifts. Principle-centered leadership introduces a new paradigm, one founded on the belief that there are certain "true north" principles-trustworthiness, trust, empowerment, and alignment-that should guide personal and interpersonal relationships and form the foundation of effective leadership. In this new paradigm for leaders, it is possible to defuse overloaded bureaucracies and empower staff to participate in a process that leads to quality decision making.

Covey, S. (1989). The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. Order from Simon & Schuster's web site: http://www.simonsays.com

In this national bestseller, Stephen Covey outlines seven habits of highly effective people, some of which are also characteristic of effective professional development. Habit 2, "begin with the end in mind," is especially relevant to the understanding that all professional development must be designed for and geared toward the specific end of improved student learning outcomes. Proceeding backward from the end of improved student learning, teachers must be provided with the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve this goal, and staff developers must design and use the appropriate strategies for helping teachers acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to improve student learning.

Day, C. (2000). Beyond transformational leadership. Educational Leadership, 57(7), 56-59.
Order from ASCD's web site: http://www.ascd.org

Arguing that successful and skillful leaders are essential for school reform efforts to increase overall student achievement, the author of this article lists characteristics of an effective school leader. Based on a 1998 leadership study commissioned by the United Kingdom's National Association of Headteachers (the equivalent of principals in the U.S.), results revealed several leadership qualities: values-led, people-centered, achievement-oriented, inward- and outward-facing, and able to manage a number of ongoing tensions and dilemmas. A discussion of each is included.

Deal, T. & Peterson, K. (1999). Shaping school culture: The heart of leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Order from the NSDC Bookstore..

Terrence Deal and Kent Peterson show how leaders can harness the power of school culture to build a lively, cooperative spirit and a sense of school identity. They draw from more than 20 years of research on school improvement as well as from their own extensive work with school leaders across the country to identify viable new strategies for effective school leadership. They describe the critical elements of culture, show how a positive culture can make school reforms work, explore the harmful characteristics of toxic cultures, and suggest antidotes to negativity on the part of teachers, students, principals, or parents.

DuFour, R. & Berkey, T. (1995). The principal as staff developer. Journal of Staff Development, 16(4), 2-6.
Read at http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/jsddufour.cfm

Rick DuFour and Timothy Berkey discuss their research on the principals' role to nurture and develop teachers' professional growth as part of the school culture. The authors remind us to create consensus, promote shared values, ensure systematic collaboration, encourage experimentation, model commitment, provide one-on-one staff development, offer purposeful staff development programs, promote self-efficacy, and monitor the sustained effort.

DuFour, R. & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional learning communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service and Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Order from theNSDC Bookstore.

Rick DuFour and Robert Eaker offer recommendations for those who seek to transform their schools into professional learning communities as characterized by mutual collaboration, emotional support, personal growth, and a synergy of efforts. References to and brief summaries of directions for curriculum, teacher preparation, school leadership, professional development, school-parent partnerships, and assessment practices are included, along with sample vision statements.

Elmore, R. (2000). Building a new structure for school leadership. Washington, DC: The Albert Shanker Institute.
Download in PDF form at http://www.shankerinstitute.org/Downloads/building.pdf

Richard Elmore outlines five principles for a model of distributed leadership focused on large-scale education improvement: (1) the purpose of leadership is the improvement of instructional practice and performance, regardless of role; (2) instructional improvement requires continuous learning; (3) learning requires leaders that model the values and behavior that represent the collective good; (4) the roles and activities of leadership flow from the expertise for learning and improvement, not from the formal dictates of the institution; and (5) the exercise of authority requires reciprocity of accountability and capacity.

Fink, E. & Resnick, L. (2001). Developing principals as instructional leaders. Phi Delta Kappan, 82(8), 598-606.
Order through Phi Delta Kappa. Contact Terri Hampton at (800) 766-1156

The authors describe how New York City's District 2 improved student achievement by combining a strong sense of accountability with a culture of learning among principals. Principals in District 2 are responsible for creating cultures of learning in their schools as the district has devolved decision-making authority and resources to schools. The authors tell how a community of principals was formed built on strong interpersonal relationships and a sustained focus on teaching and learning. Principal learning is supported through various means: monthly principals' conferences, principals' study groups, literacy support groups, new principals' support groups, intervisitation, buddying, and individualized coaching.

Fullan, M., (2001). The new meaning of educational change, The third edition. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Order from the Teachers College Press hotline: (800) 575-6566

Michael Fullan reviews the literature of planned educational change over the last 30 years to provide some clear insights about the do's and don'ts of bringing about change in elementary and secondary schools. Fullan distills from his experience the most powerful lessons about how participants can cope with and influence educational change. He compiles the best theory and practice in order to explain why change processes work as they do and to identify what would have to be done to improve them.

Hall, G. & Hord, S. (2001). Implementing change: Patterns, principles, and potholes. Boston. MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Order from Allyn & Bacon's web site: http://www.ablongman.com

This new text that focuses on the Concerns-Based Adoption Model contains four primary sections: the context for implementing change, tools and techniques for change facilitators (includes Stages of Concern, Levels of Use, Innovation Configurations), the imperative for leadership in change, and constructing and understanding the realities of change (includes a focus on organizational culture, climate, and context).

Haslam, B. (1997, Fall). How to rebuild a local professional development infrastructure. NAS Getting Better by Design. Arlington, VA: New American Schools.
Download in PDF form at http://www.naschools.org/respub/haslam.pdf

Bruce Haslam argues that too many schools still see professional development as something that is delivered to teachers without opportunities for follow up, little or no time for individual or collective reflection, and little testing of new ideas and information. He outlines a six-step school transformation strategy for districts: (1) convene a professional development task force, (2) map the local professional development infrastructure, (3) agree on broad principles and attributes to guide local practice, (4) report on current professional development programs and policies, (5) redesign current professional development programs and policies to support school transformation, (6) and monitor progress continuously.

Hord, S. (1992). Facilitative leadership: The imperative for change. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
Read at http://www.sedl.org/change/facilitate/welcome.html

The text contains research that supports six categories of actions that are used by effective leaders to facilitate change. These include developing a culture of readiness for change, promoting the vision, providing the necessary resources, ensuring the availability of professional development, maintaining checks on progress, and providing the ongoing assistance necessary for change to occur smoothly.

Hord, S. (1994). Staff development and change process: Cut from the same cloth. Issues…about Change, 4(2). Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
Read at http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues42.html

In this paper, Shirley Hord describes the Joyce and Showers staff development model and relates it to a change model derived from school improvement studies. Noting the fit of the two models, Hord suggests successful strategies for a comprehensive approach to changing teachers' practices which include developing and articulating a vision, planning and providing resources, investing in training, monitoring progress, providing continuous assistance, and creating a context conducive to change.

Hord, S. (1997). Professional learning communities: Communities of continuous inquiry and improvement. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, 18-19.
Read at http://www.sedl.org/pubs/change34/welcome.html

Shirley Hord summarizes the research, articulating the requirements for effective professional learning communities: (1) the collegial and facilitative participation of the principal who shares leadership, power, and authority through inviting staff input in decision making; (2) a shared vision that is developed from the staff's unswerving commitment to students' learning and that is consistently articulated and referenced for the staff's work; (3) collective learning among staff and application of the learning to solutions that address students' needs; (4) the visitation and review of each teacher's classroom behavior by peers as a feedback and assistance activity to support teachers; (5) physical conditions and human capacities that support such an operation.

Joyce, B. & Calhoun, E. (1996). Learning experiences in school renewal: An exploration of five successful programs. Eugene, OR: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management.
Order from ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management's web site: http://www.eric.uoregon.edu

The authors present five case studies of programs used to build improved learning communities. Each of the five programs presented focuses on unique components of school renewal. Technical and social aspects of school renewal are examined, and the goal of building a learning community for the whole school remains a central theme throughout. The programs include the use of staff development as a tool for school improvement, the effective use of governance structures, the use of an initiative to create a culture of readers and writers, the use of staff development to increase the capacity of inner city schools, and the use of action research as a tool for school improvement.

Kolenko, C. & Schrup, M. (1992). Inservice education-staff development: CASE information dissemination packet. Bloomington, IN: CASE Research Committee, Indiana University.
Request from CASE Research Committee, (812) 855-5090

This information packet is intended to provide special education administrators with information and materials regarding inservice education and staff development. The first section presents a research and development model based on Project TAMEC (Technical Assistance for Mainstreaming Exceptional Children). The second section presents seven "best practices" models, focusing on building-based programs and networking systems. The final section focuses on structuring staff development programs.

Kruse, S., Louis, K., & Bryk, A. (1994). Building professional community in schools. Madison, WI: Center on Organization and Restructuring Schools.
Download in PDF form at http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/archives/completed/cors/Issues_in_Restructuring_Schools/ISSUES_NO_6_SPRING_1994.pdf

Sharon Kruse, Karen Seashore Louis, and Anthony Bryk argue that if education is to improve, the school must be the focus of change. They argue that teachers in a strong professional community must demonstrate reflective dialogue, de-privatization of practice, collective focus, collaboration, and shared norms and values. They outline five structural condition of a professional community: time to meet and talk, physical proximity, interdependent teaching roles, communication structures, and teacher empowerment and school autonomy. Finally, they discuss the social and human resources that enhance professional communities: openness to improvement, trust and respect cognitive and skill base, supportive leadership, and socialization.

Lambert, L. (1998). Building leadership capacity in schools. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Order from ASCD's web site: http://www.ascd.org

Linda Lambert outlines five key assumptions which form the conceptual framework for building leadership capacity: (1) leadership means providing the reciprocal learning processes that enable participants to construct and negotiate meanings leading to a shared purpose of schooling; (2) leadership is about collective learning that has a shared purpose and leads to constructive change; (3) every member of the school community has the potential and right to work as a leader and can learn to do so, (4) leading and learning must be shared because school change is a collective endeavor, (5) leadership requires the redistribution of power and authority.

Lewandowski, A. & Moller, G. (1997). The change that matters. Journal of Staff Development, 18(3), 45-49.
Read at http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/lewandowski183.cfm

Antonia Lewandowski and Gayle Moller report on the Florida Assisting Change in Education Program, which teaches school leaders to facilitate the change process in schools. Training for school improvement facilitators teaches them to lead groups, encourage discussion, mediate differences, and create an appropriate spirit for crafting and implementing school improvement plans. Evaluation of the program indicates it successfully trains facilitators and provides necessary skills for facilitating the change process.

Lieberman, A. & McLaughlin, M. (1992). Networks for educational change: Powerful and problematic. Phi Delta Kappan, 74, 673-677.
Order through Phi Delta Kappa. Contact Terri Hampton at (800) 766-1156

Networks of teachers offer a new approach to staff development as teachers grow professionally and assume new leadership roles. Networks have a clear focus yet offer a variety of activities. In networks, the knowledge of teachers is respected. However, several problems can arise including failure to assess and modify their practices, difficulty in assimilating networks into schools, maintaining stability, uncontrolled growth, the threat to outside groups from the powerful ownership by teachers, lack of knowledge about change, lack of new models of leadership and accountability, and goals created outside of the network. Teachers support networks because they offer challenges and give them incentives to change their practice.

Lieberman, A. & Miller, L. (1999). Teachers--Transforming their world and their work. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Order from ASCD's web site: http://www.ascd.org.

Ann Lieberman and Lynne Miller share insights and wisdom gathered from educators across the country whom they have met during the past decade and a half. They argue that teachers should be at the center of all efforts to improve, rethink, and redesign schools. The authors enrich the current dialogue on teaching and schools by focusing on the constraints as well as the possibilities that are embedded in practice.

Little, J. (1982). Norms of collegiality and experimentation: Workplace conditions of school success. American Educational Research Journal, 19(3), 325-340.
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Interviews with 105 teachers and 14 administrators, supplemented by observation, provide data for a focused ethnography of the school as a workplace, specifically of organizational characteristics conducive to continued "learning on the job."

Little, J. (1997, March). Excellence in professional development and professional community (Working paper, Benchmarks for Schools). Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
View excerpt at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/BlueRibbonSchools/profdev.html
Order complete paper from U.S. Department of Education. (202) 219-2149

The basic premise of the paper is that a school that is effective with students is also likely to play a powerful, deliberate, and consequential role in the support of teacher development. Professional development is moving toward a vision of professional communities that support teacher learning through diverse experiences. Little focuses on the environments (structures or practices, traditions or culture) that are conducive to teacher learning. She begins with an overview of a broadened conception of professional development, then describes the aspects of school organization and culture that affect professional development and concludes with a method for assessing the school's contribution to professional development.

Newmann, F. & Wehlage, G. (1995). Successful school restructuring: A report to the public and educators. Madison, WI: Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools, 37-48.
Order from Document Service, Wisconsin Center for Education Research
1025 W. Johnson St., Room 242, Madison, WI 53706
(608) 263-4214

Fred Newmann and Gary Wehlage present research concerning the conditions that enhance student learning and enable schools to function as professional communities. The structural conditions include shared governance that increases teachers' influence over school policy and practice, interdependent work structures which encourage collaboration, staff development that enhances technical skills consistent with school missions, deregulation that provides autonomy for schools, small school size, and parent involvement. Other conditions presented are effective human resources and leadership, external standard setting, school and teacher autonomy, and parent involvement.

Pechman, E. & King, J. (1993). Obstacles to restructuring: Experiences of six middle-grades schools. New York, NY: National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED362985)
Order from NCREST's web site: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/~ncrest/

The implementation of a school improvement effort in six middle-grades schools is reported in this paper. The research identifies six factors that are essential for successful school reform. They are a stable and safe school environment, the ongoing support from district staff for reform, the presence of teacher leaders within the school; the collaboration and support of the whole faculty, the acceptance and commitment by the faculty to participate in the change process, and a principal who facilitates the changes and encourages collegiality.

Peterson, P., McCarthey, S., & Elmore, R. (1996). Learning from school restructuring. American Educational Research Journal, 33, 119-153.
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The authors analyze successful restructuring experiments from three elementary schools. Their study found that (1) teaching and learning are mainly a function of the teacher's beliefs, understandings, and behaviors within the context of specific classroom problems; (2) changing classroom practice is primarily a problem of continuous learning resulting in improved practice for teachers, not a problem of school organization; (3) school structures can provide opportunities for learning, but structures by themselves do not cause learning to occur; and (4) where teachers have a shared vision, teaching practice and student learning are successfully connected.

Rényi, J. (1996). Teachers take charge of their learning: Transforming professional development for student success. Washington, DC: National Foundation for the Improvement of Education.
Read at http://www.nfie.org/publications/takecharge_full.htm

This report provides the results of the NFIE's national survey of more than 800 teachers and two years of observations, consultations, surveys, and other studies. Two major findings: (1) 74 percent of teachers said they engage in professional growth to improve student achievement, and (2) 53 percent said they participate in professional development to improve their teaching skills. The report explores the conditions and policies needed to incorporate teachers' learning into their daily work in schools and makes recommendations regarding incentives, processes, policies, and structures that support wise, shared decisions about teachers' learning.

Sergiovanni, T. (1994). Building community in schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Order from Jossey-Bass's web site: http://www.josseybass.com

Thomas J. Sergiovanni discusses the importance of building a learning community by reorganizing our educational values, beliefs, and practices, rather than just using the word "community" in our mission statements. He argues for an understanding of a community as a collection of individuals who are bonded together by natural will and who are bound to a set of shared ideas and ideals. This bonding and binding is tight enough to transform them from a collection of "I's" into a collective "we." As a "we," members are part of a tightly knit web of meaningful relationships sharing common sustaining sentiments and traditions.

Sparks, G. (1983). Synthesis of research on staff development for effective teaching. Educational Leadership, 41(3), 65-72.
Order from ASCD's web site: http://www.ascd.org

Georgea Sparks briefly summarizes some of the research on appropriate content for staff development, as well as the appropriate context for staff development. The major focus of the article, however, is on the training process of staff development. Sparks combines some of the research on effective training activities to form a list: diagnosing and prescribing, giving information and demonstrating, discussing application, and coaching. Finally, she presents some of the research concerning the importance of designing staff development programs that are adapted to fit various teacher characteristics and attitudes.

Sparks, D. & Hirsh, S. (1997). A new vision for staff development. Alexandria, VA: ASCD and National Staff Development Council.
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Dennis Sparks and Stephanie Hirsh describe three powerful ideas altering the shape of schools and staff development: results-driven education, systems-thinking, and constructivism. Major shifts in staff development resulting from these three ideas include movement from individual development to individual and organizational development; from fragmented, piecemeal improvement efforts to staff development driven by a clear, coherent plan; from a focus on adult needs and satisfaction to a focus on student needs and learning outcomes; from training conducted away from the job to multiple forms of job-embedded learning; and from staff development as a "frill" to staff development as indispensable. Sparks and Hirsh elaborate on these shifts and provide examples from around the country.

Sparks, D. (1998). The educator examined. Journal of Staff Development, 19(3), 38-42.
Read at http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/schlechty193.cfm

Dennis Sparks interviews Phillip Schlechty, founder of the Center for Leadership in School Reform, who discusses assumptions about teachers' roles, suggesting teachers be viewed as inventors and leaders of knowledge workers. The interview addresses teachers as inventors; developing school leaders, assumptions about behavior, structural changes in education, building capacity for reform, central office role, and preparing to lead. Ten critical qualities of student work are presented.

Weiss, I. R. & Pasley J. D. (2006). Scaling up instructional improvement through teacher professional development: Insights from the local systemic change initiative. Philadelphia, PA: Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) Policy Briefs.
Read at http://www.cpre.org/Publications/rb44.pdf

Weiss and Pasley share results from the Local Systemic Change Initiative (LSC) and conclude that PD to enhance mathematics and science teaching can be implemented effectively at scale. When carefully designed and energetically supported, ambitious PD focused on instructional content and materials and sustained over time can change what happens in classrooms; impacts on teachers and their teaching were typically evident after approximately 30 hours of PD, with further impacts detected through 80 hours of PD. The LSDC evaluation suggests some implications of importance to those considering similar large-scale instructional reform through PD. First, if PD is going to have an impact, it needs to be focused on clear goals and delivered over time by well-trained providers. Competing and distracting PD efforts should be discouraged. Second, if PD is to move beyond business as usual, it must be based on content and practice and planned as a coherent set of strategies to develop teachers' content and pedagogical knowledge. This work is difficult, but it does not require starting from scratch; most districts have internal capacity-such as teachers who can lead PD and principals who can align instruction with a reform vision-that can be used to move instructional change to scale. Third, alignment of district policies with instructional reforms and garnering the support of school/district administrators is crucial to the success and long-term sustainability of these reforms. Finally, stakeholders need to be aware that change takes time-and work to help teachers gain that time for learning. The findings from the LSC program thus supports the consensus view about effective PD: the importance of content-based PD, aligned with curriculum and assessment, focused on student learning, sustained over time, with collaboration among teachers, and administrative support. The LSC experience also points to some ways to make sure the common sense of that consensus becomes common in practice.

U.S. Department of Education Professional Development Team. (1994). Building bridges: The mission and principles of professional development. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
Read at http://www.ed.gov/G2K/bridge.html

The Professional Development Team used available research to create a set of principles for staff development. According to their study, high quality professional development: (1) focuses on teachers as central to student learning; (2) focuses on individual, collegial, and organizational improvement; (3) respects and nurtures the intellectual and leadership capacity of individuals within the school community; (4) reflects best available research and practice in teaching, learning, and leadership; (5) enables teachers to develop further expertise in subject content, teaching strategies, and technology; (6) promotes continuous inquiry and improvement; (7) involves collaborative planning; (8) requires substantial time and other resources; (9) is driven by a coherent long-term plan; and (10) is assessed by its impact on teacher effectiveness and student learning.