Make PD work for us. All of us.

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:17:45 +0000

This evening I read Derek Wenmoth’s latest blog post, which highlights the McKinsey report titled:
Breaking the habit of ineffective professional development for teachers

I’ve not had the chance to read the report in full, and it’s only 12 pages long, so I will get around to reading it. But in summary, the report identifies these promising ideas:

Base the PD program on a vision of effective teaching;

Segment teachers and deliver PD strategically;
Make coaching the centerpiece of PD;
Move from “push” to “pull,” so that teachers get what they want, when they want it; and
Only offer PD with demonstrated impact.

As said, I’ve not read the report in full, but here are my initial reactions/thoughts to this summary. At first glance it seems to see teachers as working in isolation - professionals that can upgraded and who then maintain those skills indefinitely by virtue of having a patch applied. It seems to ignore the collaborative and highly personal nature of the profession.

Foo on Continue

Make PD work for us. All of us.