Quality Professional Learning

The Arkansas Department of Education has partnered with the Arkansas Educational Television Network to meet the professional development needs of K-12 licensed educators by offering research-based, technology-delivered professional development courses to improve academic and teaching knowledge and skills of certified personnel.

Over the last few years, education leaders in Arkansas have developed comprehensive professional development policies to improve student performance. These efforts were recognized in Education Week's 2008 Quality Counts report as being among the best in the country.

Whether you are developing a plan for yourself, your school or your district, these resources will help you stay focused on student and adult learning needs and anticipated outcomes as you move through the planning process.

• What quality professional development looks like
• How quality professional development is defined and
• Ways to sustain quality professional development through job-embedded, results-driven approaches to learning

Q: Why 60 hours?

A comprehensive study of local systemic initiatives in math and science funded by the National Science Foundation, examining over 70,000 teachers and two million students, found that educators with 60 hours or more of professional development reported greater impact on their content knowledge and use of instructional strategies.

Q: What is Job-Embedded Professional Development?

Job-embedded professional development refers to learning that takes place during the course of one’s work, where daily access to necessary materials, knowledge, and assistance are readily available.

Q: Why is Job-Embedded Professional Development Important?

The Arkansas Rules Governing Professional Development outline, and, in fact, encourage professional development that compliments the traditional professional development model of workshops and conferences.

Q: How do I build a professional development plan?

The Tool Kit for Quality Professional Development in Arkansas identifies six components of quality professional development that should be taken into consideration when building a plan for professional development (Garet et al, 2001).

Q: What is quality professional development?

Quality professional development is the process of gaining knowledge and understanding of new concepts, developing the skills needed to put those concepts into practice, and making those practices sustainable in the classroom in order to improve student performance.

Q: What is NSDC?

The National Staff Development Council has developed standards for professional development designed to help educators identify and provide quality, results-driven professional development. These standards are explained in the Arkansas Rules Governing Professional Development, and are explored in greater detail in the Arkansas Tool Kit for Quality Professional Development.