Professional development cannot succeed with out strong content. The content of the professional development that is associated with high-performing schools is always focused and serves a well-planned long-te rm strategy. To be effective, professional development should be based on curricular and instructional strategies that have a high probability of affecting student learning—and, just as important, students’ ability to learn (Joyce and Showers, 2002). In addition, professional development should
(1) deepen teachers’ knowledge of the subjects being taught;
(2) sharpen teaching skills in the classroom;
(3) keep up with developments in the individual fields, and in education generally;
(4) generate and contribute new knowledge to the profession; and
(5) increase the ability to monitor students’ work, in order to provide constructive feedback to students and appropriately redirect teaching (The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, 2000).
Sandra H. Harwell (2003).
Teacher Professional Development: It’s Not an Event, It’s a Process (p. 4).
Waco, TX: CORD. Available April 29 2013, http://www.cord.org/uploadedfiles/HarwellPaper.pdf
