Executive Summary

This report provides education leaders and policymakers with a lens to examine model professional development in education and the private sector. What does effective professional development in each sector look like? How do approaches differ? What can education learn from the successes of private-sector professional development programs and policies?

In 1998, the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory commissioned a study of one exemplary private-sector corporation (BlueRibbin) and one exemplary school district (Reeching Heights) to compare processes and outcomes of professional development and staff training, and to develop descriptions and explanations of how professional development becomes infused into the culture of an organization. By identifying some of the strengths and weaknesses of "the best of the best" in the two sectors, the results of the analysis are intended to be used to design policy recommendations that leverage change in professional development in public education.

The purpose of this study was (1) to increase understanding of how organizations support or fail to support a work culture that values ongoing education, and (2) to better understand what comprises the environment, desire, and means in which effective staff development and training take place.

The research study detailed here was not designed to be a comparison of professional development in public education and the private sector. Rather, this study is an organized examination of two exemplary sites that holds lessons that have potential implications for how professional development in education is supported and funded in the future.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Cultural Alignment of Professional Development
Both case-study sites provided examples of the following elements that can build an organizational culture that supports professional development:

• To legitimize professional development in an organization, it is important that leadership is convinced of and committed to its value, as evidenced through the funding available and the messages transmitted to employees.
• Professional development must be coordinated with organizational goals. In this study, both professional development programs were successful largely because of the status and responsibility for coordinating staff development and training programs that was accorded employees by senior management. The process of engaging employees and management in a continuous cycle of needs sensing and feedback on staff development and training is an example of a highly coordinated system of continuing education that does not link funding levels for professional development to outcome criteria for performance.
• Employees must recognize that professional development has multiple functions in achieving evolving organizational goals. These functions can include:
  1. The recruitment of high-quality staff
  2. The development and maintenance of a strong and appropriate organizational learning culture for both new and experienced employees
  3. The development of technical skills for employees
  4. The development of effective problem-solving strategies among employees
  5. The legitimization of a personnel assessment system that emphasizes individual work performance (by giving all employees the resources to improve their performance)
  6. The retention of high-performing staff who consider changing jobs an interruption of their professional growth

Organizational Alignment of Professional Development
Both sites also provided examples of how schools and districts might restructure their organizational approach to continuing education, including a variety of elements that might make professional development more effective. The examples include the following:

• Decisions about funding for professional development tend to be considerably more process heavy and involve more players, such as the school board, the teachers' union, the superintendent, intermediate school districts, school principals, etc.
• Professional development is defined as one of the tasks that employees accomplish on the job rather than "in addition to" the job.
• Building time into each employee's job for continuing education is a critical element in designing an organizational approach to professional development.

IMPLICATIONS AND POLICY PRIORITIES FOR STATE AND LOCAL EDUCATION LEADERS

There are three areas where the results of this research provide lessons for how professional development is introduced and sustained in schools.

1. Providing teachers with time for professional development during the school day and year that is not used for administrative purposes is paramount to building a culture of professional growth.
2. It is also critical to acculturate teachers early into an environment that values continual learning and uses resources, such as technology, differently to provide an infrastructure and delivery system for school-based professional development.
3. Aligning school and district goals with the goals of professional development should be a continuous process that assesses needs and measures progress toward meeting the goals.

The full report provides education leaders, as well as state and federal policymakers, with initial language to begin designing policies that support an integrated, highly accountable system of professional development in schools and school districts.

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