Distinguished Thoughts

Hayes Mizell’s blogs, which he writes on a regular basis for Learning Forward and its affiliates will be featured on this page. Mizell is a distinguished senior fellow with Learning Forward.

Finding Your "Heat Index":
Professional Learning in the News

The marquee of a school near me has displayed this announcement for the last couple of months: Early Release Day Every Other Wednesday for Teacher Learning. Now in Tucson and not yet associated with schools or districts in the area, I read the marquee as a citizen might and wondered on behalf of other citizens just exactly what Teacher Learning at that school is all about and why does it take early release days twice a month.

Hayes Mizell, Distinguished Senior Fellow with Learning Forward (formerly National Staff Development Council), enlightened me during a technical assistance call for affiliates on Thursday, October 13. Representing the Colorado affiliate, I learned from Mizell's constant scan of the online and print environment for news articles about professional development. Periodically, Mizell writes an online column for Learning Forward called "PL in the News." Mizell reads articles and reports and selects and excerpts from them when they pertain to professional learning. As he puts it, "In most cases, the excerpts are from articles or reports focused on broader issues; therefore, the excerpts are out of context." Mizell also provides links to the articles or reports he excerpts.

General Findings and Trends From the News

Here are some general findings and trends that might surprise you about the public's perception of professional learning:

• Local papers offer the best news. Reporters are "hungry" for stories and often have a "local beat" in the schools.
• The terms staff development and professional development are declining, but reporters usually have to define their replacement, professional learning (PL), which is mostly used with PLCs (professional learning communities). Along with changed terminology, the public is beginning to recognize that professional learning is no longer just a one-day workshop or a presentation.
• There are increasing references to use of data in terms of professional learning (not seen 5-10 years ago).
• Schools systems/leaders are encouraging reporters to focus on PL - "good" news, something positive.
• When they talk about growth and learning, school officials respond to the question "What is responsible for growth/learning?" with reference to professional learning.
• More members of the general public are becoming aware of what professional learning is and what it does; they increasingly understand the importance of its role in education.
• The public connects professional learning to improvement but also is aware of the need to find time for it-especially use of early dismissal/late start, or a four-day schedule. These are not without controversy as parents need to make plans for supervising their children.
• The public also recognizes that collaboration among teachers, schools and districts (occasionally schools and districts because of financial constraints) so their educators can learn from each other.
• The use of instructional coaches and "inhouse experts" is becoming "a given in the educational landscape."
• Corporate sponsorship of professional learning has increased, especially in the area of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) through institutes.
• The public understands the possibility of infusing technology into professional learning through webinars, online courses, and the use of tweets as a PL tool.
• Recently, PL has been "pitted" against teacher evaluation in terms of how monies are spent; monies for teacher evaluation are one way professional learning is embedded in state and district school systems.
• Teacher evaluation policies often tack on professional learning: "Of course, we will use this information to try to help people learn and grow." The public may be mislead into thinking that what professional learning does is "fix teachers."
• Occasionally, articles report that superintendents are going to focus more intentionally on professional learning, using terms like "improve" PL or "increase" PL. They have a view that PL has been there all the time, but they haven't been getting as much out of it as they could.
• The public is less likely to see attention to professional learning as a stand-alone, not part of some larger strategy. Instead there's some rising consciousness that professional learning is a key component of an overall strategy to improve a school or district. The result is reported as a "coherent approach to school reform/administration."
• The public is beginning to expect a tie between significant increases in achievement/scores and professional learning. "People are actually saying that professional learning is one of the reasons [their school district has] been successful in increasing test scores."

Policy Challenges

More specifically, Mizell summarizes some of the policy challenges facing educators in terms of professional learning:

1. Percent of a school system's budget;
2. School boards failing to provide oversight of PL expenditures/results; and
3. Reductions in funding/time for professional learning.

Delivery Challenges

Some of the delivery challenges school districts face in terms of professional learning:

1. Lack of rigorous organization/management of PL;
2. Continued references to PL "offerings," "training," "opportunities," "days," "hours," or "points" to "count" professional learning;
3. School district/state directed professional learning (rather than school- based);
4. Little or no attention to evaluating PL and assessing its outcomes;
5. Little or no attention to Learning Forward's new standards (which, admittedly, not many people know about yet).

External Challenges

Mizell characterizes as external challenges these factors:

1. Public perceptions of school-based PL as taking time from instruction;
2. Teacher union giving up PL days in contract negotiations (because of budget concerns); and
3. Increasing role of for-profit vendors as PL providers.

Opportunities in the News

Mizell encourages all educators (and Learning Forward affiliates) to consider these opportunities:

• How effectively are news media in our state covering professional learning?
• What are newsworthy PL practices in our state?
• What information do we need to interest news media in covering these practices?
• What do these news stories suggest about the need and potential for affiliates to document real-time, newsworthy professional learning?

Suggestions for Using "PL in the News"

Mizell concluded his presentation with some suggestions for using "PL in the News":

• Print and file all editions of "PL in the News" to save for future reference/examples
• Create an electronic file, then save only selected items of particular interest to you
• Forward it to affiliate members and colleagues
• Discreetly but anonymously put a copy on the desk of someone who should read it
• Select compelling news items, quotes, data, or research to include in the affiliate newsletter
• Use one or more items to spark reflection and discussion at an affiliate board meeting

Use As Exemplars

Specifically, Mizell advocated that affiliates (and educators, in general) use the news to identify exemplars and to understand trends as they are developing.

• Select and share news items that describe good practice
• In conversations or testimony share positive stories from throughout the nation
• Use compelling stories/data to counter "professional learning doesn't work"
• Use selected news items to provoke/inform discussions of "Why aren't we doing this?"

Use to Identify Trends

• Identify trends that seem to be emerging throughout the nation
• Anticipate and prepare for trends that are likely to impact your state
• Contact individuals identified in news stories to learn from their experiences
• Enhance an affiliate board meeting by using Skype to include a distant trendsetter as a resource person

Conclusion

According to Mizell, "news is a thermometer that indicates the level of 'heat' around an issue. The 'heat index' around professional learning is growing." What's your "heat index?"

Reference

http://www.learningforward.org/news/pdnews/index.cfm