Restructured or rescheduled time lengthening school day on four days, with early release on day five.
Better-used time using regular staff or district meetings for planning and professional growth rather than for informational or administrative purposes.
Common time scheduling common planning periods for colleagues having similar assignments.
Purchased time establishing a substitute bank of 30-40 days per year, which teachers can tap when they participate in committee work or professional development activities.
Block scheduling can also make it easier to carve professional development time from the school day (Tanner, Canady, & Rettig, 1995). For example, Hackmann (1995) describes a middle school block schedule that frees one-fourth of the faculty to plan or engage in other professional work during each period of the day. At least one day a week, teachers in the Teaching and Learning Collaborative in Massachusetts have no teaching duties. They can use this Alternative Professional Time to pursue professional interests or alternative roles, such as writing curriculum, conducting research, supervising student teacher interns, or teaching college classes. This arrangement is facilitated by the presence of full-time teaching interns and team-teaching. (Troen & Bolles, 1994). Newer technologies, such as Internet and video conferencing, can give teachers access to instructional resources and collegial networks (Professional Development, 1994).
There may be opposition to some of the above-mentioned strategies. Adding more pupil-free professional development days can be costly and may provoke opposition from financial managers or legislators. Cambone (1995) points out that schools do not exist in a vacuum, isolated from the larger community. Extending the school day and school year to accommodate more professional development time can upset parents’ childcare arrangements and family vacations. If schools remain open during the summer and teenagers are not free for summer jobs in places like amusement parks, the local economy can be affected and commercial interests may object to such a schedule change. School maintenance agendas, which often schedule big projects over the summer, may also be affected by extending the school year.
Perhaps the most formidable challenge to institutionalising effective professional development time may be the prevailing school culture, which generally considers a teacher’s proper place during school hours to be in front of a class and which isolates teachers from one another and discourages collaborative work (NECTL, 1994). It is a culture that does not place a premium on teacher learning and in which decisions about professional development needs are not usually made by teachers but by state, district, and building administrators. Paradoxically, implementing a more effective pattern of teacher professional development requires struggling against these constraints, but it may also help to create a school climate that is more hospitable to teacher learning.
Wallenpaupack Area School District’s Act 48 Committee
Our chairpersons were nominated and elected by the Act 48 committee members from previous studies. The committee is comprised of teacher representatives, one per each elementary building, two middle school, and two high school chosen by the teachers; two members of the association, two educational specialists selected by educational specialists, one central office administrator; and all building principals. The board of directors appoint two parents of children attending a school within the district, and two local business representatives.
The administrative interns of the Act 48 Professional Education Committee base our professional education needs on a review of the collected data. Our results identified the following categories of professional education needs:
1) To increase the knowledge and skills of all professional staff members in the effective use of technology in the curriculum and for administrative and student support functions.
2) To assist teachers in aligning curriculum and assessment with the Pennsylvania Academic Standards.
3) To assist teachers with the implementation of instructional strategies and assessment practice in reading, writing, and math that result in increased student achievement of the Pennsylvania Academic Standards.
4) To instruct all professional staff members in the methods of creating and maintaining measures to promote safety and security of all students and staff.
5) To assist teachers with the development of strategies for dealing with the disenfranchised or at-risk student.
6) To assist teachers with maintaining current professional certifications.
The professional Education Committee (Act 48) will meet once per year to monitor implementation of the plan. An implementation committee will be created with the membership as follows:
Administration – two central office, two high school, one middle school, one each elementary building and one special education director.
Professional Employees – two association, two high school, two middle school, one each elementary building.
The committee will use feedback from the participants to determine the need for modifications of the program. The ongoing evaluation of the Professional Education Plan will include a review of the goals, activities, delivery system, and attainment of the competencies listed for each activity. Amendments to the plan, if needed, will be recommended annually by the Professional Education Committee, approved by the board of directors, and submitted to the department for approval. The evaluation devices to be used may include, but not be limited to: surveys, test scores, discussion and interviews. All such devices will be obtained from teachers, administration and community members except for test scores. Teachers and administration will obtain the test scores only.
REFERENCES
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education [AACTE]. (1992). The National Education Goals: The AACTE member response. Washington, DC: Author. ED 347,144.
Cambone, J. (1995). Time for teachers in school restructuring. Teachers College Record, 96(3): 512-43. EJ505811
Cross, C. T. (1991, February 27). Education research and development for teacher learning: Leadership roles. Speech presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Atlanta, GA. ED 336, 342.
Guy, M. (Ed.). (in press). Teachers and teacher education: Essays on the National Education Goals. Washington, DC: Clearinghouse on Teacher Education and American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Report looks at national ed goal programs. (1993, April 5). ACE Higher Education & National Affairs, p. 4.
Hackmann, D. G. (1995). Ten guidelines for implementing block scheduling. Educational Leadership, 53(3): 24-27.
National Education Commission on Time and Learning [NECTL]. (1994). Prisoners of time. Washington, DC: Author. ED366115 [Available on-line: gopher://gopher.ed.gov:70/00/ publications/full[underscore]text/PoTResearch/5; http://www.ed.gov/pubs/PrisonersOfTime/index.html]
Professional development: Changing times. (1994). Policy Briefs, Report 4. Oak Brook, IL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. ED376618
State Higher Education Executive Officers Association [SHEEO]. (1991, August). Higher education and school reform: Creating the partnership. Denver, CO: Author. ED 337,110.
Tanner, B., Canady, R. L., & Rettig, R. L. (1995). Scheduling time to maximize staff development opportunities. Journal of Staff Development, 16(4): 14-19. EJ522303
Taylor, T. A. (2000, May 24). Congress confronts Goals 2000, national service. AACTE Briefs, p. 1.
Troen, V., & Bolles, K. (1994). Two teachers examine the power of teacher leadership. In D. R. Walling (Ed.), Teachers as leaders. Perspectives on the professional development of teachers (pp. 275-86). Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation. ED379283
Voices from the field: 30 expert opinions on America 2000, The Bush administration strategy to “reinvent” America’s schools. (2001, April). Washington, DC: Institute for Educational Leadership and William T. Grant Foundation, Commission on Work, Family, and Citizenship. ED 336 823