Bozeman School District sits in the heart of south-central Montana, approximately 90 minutes north of Yellowstone National Park. Our city has been named to many top 10 lists of the most desirable places to live, which has meant tremendous growth for our community and schools in recent years. Now, nearly a third of our teachers are in their first three years in our district, bringing with them a desire to innovate through opportunities such as STEM lessons, makerspaces, project-based learning, and performance-based grading practices. So many changes to our district's makeup called for a reevaluation of our approach to professional development.
A District Stuck in the Safety of "Tradition"
A decade ago, our district had a traditional professional development (PD) model. Teachers provided minimal input regarding topics through district committees and occasional surveys, but our PD was largely driven by the district's central office. The model was primarily "sit and get" to push key initiatives and encourage best practices. Many of our initiatives suffered from "failure to launch"—they were plans with good intentions, but minimal implementation. Our model lacked buy-in from teachers. When administrators reflected on the learning, many admitted that the topics were often irrelevant for teachers in attendance. They began to recognize the need for a change.
However, there was a certain level of comfort and safety in the traditional model, and many stakeholders expressed fear about a shift. Central office administrators worried that a new approach would mean losing opportunities to implement districtwide initiatives, such as an antibullying program and the Understanding by Design ® framework to guide instruction. The top-down approach gave the central office a perceived sense of control, and teachers could rest assured that the offerings covered their required annual PD hours.
In his book Drive, author Daniel Pink purports that adult learners, much like students, don't engage when they're feeling managed and encourages organizations to increase individual autonomy to boost engagement. Author Michael Fullan makes a similar argument about motivation in his book Freedom to Change. He discourages the use of extrinsic motivators like accountability and encourages practices that inspire intrinsic motivation. One such practice is collaborative professionalism, which allows for individual autonomy with accountability to colleagues in determining what is best for students. We wanted our model to allow staff to identify and respond to their students'—and their own—changing needs.
A PD Reboot
Our district's teachers, union leaders, and administrators created a model that would provide teachers with more voice and choice in their PD. For a time, we used an instructional coaching model to encourage job-embedded professional learning, allowing teachers to seek the support of a nonevaluative colleague. Another key shift included self-directed PD, with teachers designing relevant plans.
Teachers created meaningful learning experiences that changed their individual practices and affected the greater community. A cohort of middle school teachers who were interested in standards-based grading structured their learning through a year-long book group. With administrative support, they selected Rethinking Grading: Meaningful Assessment for Standards-Based Learning by Cathy Vatteroot and researched and experimented on alternative grading practices. Several of our middle schools ended up establishing new systemwide grading protocols.
Another group of teacher leaders (including one of us, Rachel) learned about the Edcamp unconference model through Twitter. With the support of central office administration, we started Edcamp Big Sky. Now in its third year, the Edcamp draws 150 educators from across the state, about half of whom are from our district. Participants determine all session topics, which fosters an environment to share ideas, ask questions, and problem solve supported by the expertise of fellow educators. Survey results reveal that participants take away many actionable, relevant ideas for the classroom, a reflection of Fullan's notion of "collective capacity." The camaraderie that develops around a shared purpose "is crucial for deep and sustainable success" (Fullan, 2011, p. 56).Initially, leaders feared the new model might result in independent, siloed learning. Instead, we found that when teachers are empowered to design purposeful PD, they naturally collaborate and build community around their experiences and shared goals.
Develop Your Own PD Model
Change is difficult, but it can also bring wonderful opportunities. Here are some lessons learned in developing our personalized PD model:
- Get past fear. Our administration needed to let go of old assumptions to achieve a new reality. We had to understand that not all of our key initiatives would be rolled out through direct PD and find creative ways (informal book groups, professional learning community protocols, job-embedded practice with collaborative discussion) to engage teachers in district initiatives.
- Generate buy-in from the top. Without support from key stakeholders, change can't happen. Our administration worked with union representation and the school board to create memoranda explaining the new process to build consensus on these shifts.
- Work together to develop the ground rules. A new personalized model requires a framework and consensus on how to manage it. A key component of our process was honoring teacher voice in the decision-making process. Our districtwide PD committee includes representation from many grade levels and all sites across the district.
- Support innovative teacher leaders. Principals and central office administrators can no longer direct the professional learning; instead, they are lead learners alongside their teachers, providing support and encouragement and actively participating throughout the process. They can say "yes" more often to teachers' new ideas, rather than putting up road blocks. They can also participate in teacher-led activities (such as Edcamps), which demonstrates that the administration values the initiative. Leaders must recognize the expertise and professionalism of their teachers and step out of the way.
Our PD model continues to shift and develop. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to teacher professional development, and we will continue to analyze the effectiveness of our approach. One thing we know with certainty is that leaders must recognize the expertise and professionalism of their teachers. Let's empower alleducators to design meaningful learning opportunities for themselves, and, in turn, their students.