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[ProfessionalDevelopment 2585] Re: 'Currents' in PDDeborah Stedman stedman01 at austin.rr.comWed Oct 8 11:55:06 EDT 2008
Steve and Jackie, I really appreciate this question. The Texas Family Literacy Resource Center has always struggled with these issues as well. The current "accountability" environment values standardized assessment; however, there are none that I know of that measure professional development learning. Changes in the organization/program and practitioner behavior can be assessed through qualitative data from interviews and surveys and such but the trick, obviously, is crafting the right questions. Qualitative evaluation (especially the analysis) is mighty labor intensive and expensive. Eventual learner gains is another whole issue and would require a controlled study to attribute gains or the lack of gains directly to professional development - an evaluation strategy that most professional development organizations do not have resources for. I'm hoping for some responses to Steve's question that are "outside the box" thoughts and ideas. Deborah Deborah Stedman, Ph.D. Grant Director, Texas Family Literacy Resource Center Lecturer, Developmental and Adult Education Texas State University 601 University Drive San Marcos, TX 78666 Phone: 512-245-9757 fax: 512-245-8151 E-mail: ds43 at txstate.edu Website: http://www.tei.education.txstate.edu/famlit _____ From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of steve.reuys Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2008 9:36 AM To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2584] Re: 'Currents' in PD Jackie: I would be interested in exploring the question of how to evaluate or assess the impact or outcomes of professional development activities that we provide. Using the five levels of evaluation delineated by Thomas Guskey, we are usually able to evaluate the first two--participant satisfaction with an activity and participant learning--but the other three--change in the organization/program, change in practitioner behavior, and eventual learner gains--are much more difficult to assess in adult basic education. It would be interesting to see if others doing professional development in our field are wrestling with the same issues and anyone has come up with any useful approaches or strategies for doing this. Steve Reuys Director, A.L.R.I./Boston SABES University of Massachusetts Boston Wheatley Bldg., 4th fl., rm 04-167 100 Morrissey Blvd. Boston, MA 02125-3393 617-287-4071 steve.reuys at umb.edu On Oct 6, 2008, at 7:16 PM, Jackie A. Taylor wrote: Professional Development Colleagues: Sometimes, we might find ourselves "caught" in a daily work regimen or it is challenging to find time to participate in this online community. Good questions about PD confront us but we have little time to investigate them. (You might even feel a little guilty about it!) But here's an idea -- what if we combined efforts by intentionally exploring a PD question or two a month together -- where, for example, a question about professional development would be posted for discussion every-other Monday? The question would come from you -- something you are currently involved in or grappling with in providing professional development. You could post the question or send it to me for posting. Questions might cover, for example: * Helping administrators build instructional leadership skills * Providing effective PD around college transitions * Identifying what's new and what's working in PD * Showing return on investment in professional development * Sharing Web 2.0 tools that others use to support communities of practice * Extending practitioners' learning experiences beyond 'one shot' workshops * Providing PD on demand for volunteer tutors * Being an effective... facilitator...teacher...trainer...PD liaison, etc. This would not preclude anyone from being able to post a question anytime; rather, it would be a new way we could focus our energy to advance our work. Responses could be compiled in the PD area of the ALE Wiki. What do you think? If you like it, what's a question we might explore together? jackie Jackie Taylor, PD List Moderator, <mailto:jackie at jataylor.net> jackie at jataylor.net ---------------------------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Developme nt -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/attachments/20081008/9a0bdab3/attachment.html
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