How Do Schools Evaluate Professional Learning?

The Association for the Advancement of International Education (AAIE) hosted Dana Specker Watts the Director of Learning, Research, and Outreach of International School Services.Dana showed the audience of heads of schools tools on how to evaluate the professional development programs for faculty and staff. The international school standard is 2% of the total revenue should be devoted to employee professional development. International schools spend a lot of money on professional development and I agree with Dana and most of the participants in the session that we don’t know how much it improves student learning or employee practice.

Dana’s framework or tool used the Kirkpatrick Model of evaluating the effectiveness of training and professional development programs. Donald Kirkpatrick developed this model in the 1950s. His son James and his wife Wendy enhanced and modernized it by publishing the “New World” Kirkpatrick Model in 2016 (see above). All schools use a survey to evaluate Level 1 reactions: Was it engaging? Was it relevant? I think many schools also look at learning, asking teachers to reflect on a new skill or mindset and maybe even to demonstrate the learning to others. I think Level 3 is where schools don’t do enough. Are teachers changing their practices? Did people try it? What blocked it? The ultimate way to evaluate any training is at Level 4. “What would we expect to see happening in classrooms and among teachers in the weeks after the training if it is working?” What are the big results does a school ultimately want? ex) Improved reading scores on MAP scores

One of Dana’s key messages was the idea of equity in professional development. Are teacher assistants and local hires able to access the PD? She adds the evaluative lens of Equity to the Kirkpatrick Model. Dr. Watts Speck also engagingly compared the Kirkpatrick Model to a TripAdvisor Review.

She kindly provided access to her slide deck and the Google Survey she developed. It would be good to evaluate a PD or initiative 30, 60, and 90 days out from the PD. She also has an Onboarding tool that schools can use to make sure the different categories of employees are up to speed with the latest PD initiatives.

Dana did a plug for the online ISS Professional Development “ISS EduLearn”. Schools or individuals can purchase a subscription and access a range of courses. She reported that in the last six months, educators completed 4,900 courses and 92 schools, with 4,774 educators registered.

I am definitely going to bring this framework to our leadership teams. Schools need a thoughtful and purposeful PD Evaluation Plan with the following areas:

Define the professional development goals (desired outcomes for teacher and students)
Identify what success looks like (leading indicators)
Select data sources
Collect and analyze the evidence
Adjust and iterate to optimize student learning