Professional Learning with a PURPOSE: Assessing Professional Learning

It does not take a mind reader to grasp the “don’t waste our time” mentality of teachers faced with mandatory professional learning. Recent legislative actions to quantify teacher value via a misguided “accounting strategy” (Ravitch, 2010, p. 16) are turning political skepticism for educators into job-jeopardizing evaluations. Careening in these conditions, faculty tolerance for inefficient professional learning no longer exists. Teachers demand, and deserve, professional learning with a purpose.

Professional learning with purpose is best found in activities that reinforce the mission of preK-12 schooling. Being direct, the dominant purpose of schools is student learning. Thus, professional learning value should be judged by its potential to advance student skills and knowledge. Since nothing improves without change, school leadership teams must find, adapt, present, support, and monitor professional learning that positively alters teacher behaviors to increase student learning.

Five Criteria for Professional Learning with a Purpose

Among the universal criteria for assessing the value of professional learning, these five stand out. Professional learning should:

1. Increase collective capacity to achieve the school’s purpose (DuFour, 2004, p. 63). 
2. Connect peers with purpose (Fullan, 2008, p. 39). 
3. Be easily understood. 
4. Sharpen teacher focus on student-learning goals. 
5. Empower a leadership team to blend, support, and monitor PL efforts. How does this happen?

Increase the staff’s collective capacity to achieve the school’s purpose. Lezotte (1996) coined a school mission/purpose statement that serves as a model in its brevity and content: “Learning for all, whatever it takes.” Unless a critical mass of educators within a school firmly subscribes to such a purpose, substantive professional learning is doomed. Moreover, professional learning is also doomed if it does not focus on improving teachers’ collectiveperformance. Using vision as a synonym for purpose, DuFour (2004) states, “Developing individual teacher’s knowledge and skills is important, but not sufficient. The challenge facing schools is expanding the ability of a team of teachers to achieve goals for all their students and developing the ability of the entire faculty to move the school toward its vision” (p. 63).

Connect peers with purpose. Fullan (2008) states that significant school change requires leaders to “connect peers with purpose” (p. 39). Applied here, the phrase means that professional learning must eventually convince a critical mass of faculty that the proposed changes will improve student learning. Bailey (in Easton, 2012) suggest that questions that reveal “pain” are a good way to establish purpose. Bailey poses questions such as: “What’s not working? What’s not good enough? Is it OK that certain students fail or drop out? Are we satisfied with 53% reading at grade level?” (p. 7). If a staff can connect professional learning as a remedy for current shortcomings, adoption rate greatly increases.

Stressing the importance of purpose, Daniel Pink (2010) spotlights this trait in his speech “The Surprising Science of Motivation.” Pink defines purpose as “the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.” Applying this definition, professional learning with purpose does two things. First, it appeals to the teachers’ hearts by offering a framework to increase their capacity to realize their mission as educators—helping students succeed. Second, since good professional learning is more framework than formula, good professional learning increases teacher purpose by demanding use of their expertise within professional learning guidelines. Good professional learning develops Hudson River heroes like “Sulley” Sullenberger, not autopilots, in the classrooms.

Fraser High School offers an example of professional learning creating purpose in its staff. Using Easton’s (2012) questioning technique to discover shortcomings, high school principal, Dr. Mike Lonze,– posed these questions: “What does a B mean in Mr. Brown’s English 9 class? What does the grade tell the student, principal, parents and other staff members about the student’s abilities? How similar are the knowledge and skills represented by a Mr. Brown B relative to a Ms. Green B in the same course? What course standards and grading methods should be consistent so the meaning of a B in a Fraser High School, English 9 class is understood?”

The discussion continued with a small group of teacher leaders. Relying on their expertise and action research, this core group developed a standards-based learning system. A year after identifying dubious grading practices, teachers have voluntarily changed 15 courses to a standards-based grading system. Certainly, more will follow. After identifying a problem, a core team composed of a principal and teacher leaders sought, found, adapted, supported, and monitored purposeful professional learning. This approach has made professional learning motivation intrinsic, not imposed. In this instance Fraser High School teachers do professional learning, rather than have professional learning done to them (DuFour, 2004).

Be easily understood. Professional learning cannot be confusing. As Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Simplifying may mean that the staff is introduced to professional learning in small doses.