During my 25 years as an educator, I have focused on one thing—the mastery of the content I need to teach. I am certain that if I know the content well enough, then I can deliver it in a way that anyone and everyone can learn the information. I work very hard to master the content in all my subject areas. To learn new content, I leave my school (after a full day of work or after writing a full day of lesson plans) to attend a training workshop, a conference, or a course. Most often I attend training sessions where experts in the subject area have a limited amount of time to transfer all their knowledge about the subject to me and 100 other teachers. They may use a lecture approach combined with demonstrations and guided practice during the training session.

After attending the event, I return to my classroom, shut my door, try the new stuff with my kids, and, if I am diligent, make adjustments based on feedback to myself. Seldom do I receive a follow-up call from the district staff development office, on-site coaching from the trainer, or even a “how's it going” from the building administrator. Sometimes I just give up if the new approach doesn't seem to be working. Most often, I am off to another workshop to hear about something else new before I have a chance to really think through and use what I last “learned.”

This scenario is fictitious, but it reflects the reality of the traditional training approach to professional development. Harrison (1995) describes training as the process for transferring to the employee the knowledge and skills that the organization has decided the employee needs to know. That description is fairly consistent with what happens in education. The state, the district, or the school administrator determines the knowledge and skills a teacher needs to know and provides training to impart that knowledge to the teacher. The teacher then is responsible for delivering the information to the students. And, finally, the students are graded on how much they absorb. That's the training food chain.