Professional Learning Design Principles

Enhancing school based professional development for all educators including Para-professionals, Nurses, Guidance Counselors and COSESS.

The goal of this document is to provide schools and central office departments, information, strategies and guidance on agreed upon practices for how professional learning experiences should be designed and delivered in our district. The intent is to improve the quality of professional learning and this document is offered as a guidance tool for thoughtful planning and implementation. The design principals are best practice recommendations and there is no requirement to have each design principal present in every plan for professional development and learning; however, these are research-based approaches that enhance adult learning.

1. Relevant / • Role-related: authentic to one’s role or position
• Addresses challenges of students, educators, teams, school initiatives and/or district priorities
• Differentiated: incorporation of adult learning principles or design models tailored to the skills, knowledge and needs of participants
• Addresses multiple intelligences; when possible, refrains from “sit and get” approach
2. Inquiry Driven / • Focuses on organic problems of practice or school level issues
• Open to investigate other relevant issues as they arise
• Use of qualitative and/or quantitative data
3. Led by Practitioners / • Facilitators have knowledge, skills and experience with the practices and concepts that the PD is designed to teach. This may include parents/families and members of the community.
4. Demonstrates Learning and Growth / • Outcome based: establishes clear learning or growth benchmarks for participants to meet
• Provides multiple opportunities for participants to demonstrate new knowledge or skill
5. Opportunity for Reflection / • PD is structured to allow participants to reflect on their current practice and make adjustments to future practice.
• Provides action-oriented reflection and collaboration that leads to authentic, rather than superficial, changes in practice.
• Provides a safe space for adult learning; participants feel comfortable admitting what they do not know and the PD is designed to help participants to take risks in pursuit of learning.
6. Collaborative / • Participants learn and work together to meet well-defined and specific challenges.
• PD is organized to promote teamwork, to include multiple perspectives and ensure that all participants are exposed to a rigorous and demanding curriculum.
7. Equitable, Anti- racist, Anti-biased education / • Addresses core beliefs and experiences of participants regarding race, culture, language, gender, ability and privilege
• Acknowledges color-blindness or other blindness as a barrier
• Facilitators empower participants by creating structures for everyone to succeed and using a variety of examples of excellence that are diverse and do not reinforce stereotypes
• PD outcomes include creating structures for all students to excel.
• PD outcomes include communicating and demonstrating high expectations for all students.
8. Research-Based / • Instructional strategies and practices that include educational research reported to positively impact student learning.