Involve the School Board, Central Office Administrators, and School Staff Members as a Study Group

The school board, central office administrators, and school staff members can meet as a study group to discuss issues in professional development. They can review the literature that suggests a need for additional time for professional development and consider alternative ways in which that time might be provided. As they conduct this study, they might consider the following questions:

• Do we value opportunities to learn and plan together enough to think creatively about ways to find the necessary time?

• Do we currently provide sufficient time for those activities? How much time is required?

• Which approaches to creating more time most appeal to us and would be acceptable in our community? Are we willing to consider a major restructuring of the school day and of teachers' job responsibilities so that 50 percent of a teacher's time would be devoted to learning and joint work? If so, what type of school would we create if we began with a clean slate?

• How would we view teaching and learning in such a school? Would professional teachers be the only significant source of student learning?