The Importance of Up-Front Evaluation Planning Including Student Learning Outcomes

Abstract

Professional development is hard work. It cannot be taken lightly if it is to make an impact in schools, with teachers, and ultimately on student learning. Within this chapter we report on the lessons learned from our participation in a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded professional development program, Mathematics Teacher Leaders (MTL, pseudonym). The professional development leadership group first recruited local site teams at universities in three different regions (Midwest, Northwest, and Southwest) for the MTL program. The three local sites were comparable in that they committed to work with culturally diverse school districts identified as “urban, urban … predominately African-American, and predominately Hispanic” (program documents). Local site team leaders selected high schools in their districts and met with teachers and administrators in these school districts to begin to develop specific plans for MTL. Subsequently, these school leaders were asked to create plans for professional development that would meet each individual school’s needs and ultimately affect teachers’ practice and student outcomes.