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 

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