When it comes to supporting students, Anthony Alvarado has a simple theory of action—kids learn from teachers. Want to improve student achievement? Then you have to improve teachers. The quality of professional learning available to adults in a school system will determine the quality of instruction, said the former leader of New York City and San Diego school systems.
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What should this professional learning look like? For starters, Alvarado said, it should look like the inside of a classroom. Professional development has to be focused on putting the knowledge into practice immediately, not just on knowing what good teaching is or reading about strategies that work. Knowledge and practice are not the same thing, he noted, and strategies can fade when not put into practice immediately.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Timely classroom application is essential because that's where the real lessons are learned—where educators engage in professional growth rather than just receive professional training. Through trial and error and trial again, teachers accumulate the professional survival gear that is going to nourish success year after year. “If you're an administrator,” said the former New York state superintendent of the year, “then you must know teaching inside and out. If you're not in classrooms most of the time, how can you improve them?” Alvarado warned that it's not enough to know if a kid can or can't do something—you need to know how they are learning. Assessments always lead back to instruction.
In addition to ensuring that professional development strategies are quickly delivered to the classroom, Alvarado said, educators must treat these strategies as works-in-progress. At the heart of performance-based practice is the notion that if you try something and it doesn't work, you try something else. Practice needs to constantly consider results, replan with those results in mind, practice, get feedback, and then tweak instruction some more. Feedback must be born from professional relationships built on trust and respect. Educators cannot shy away from substantive feedback, he said. Honest feedback, along with modeling and practice, are central to internalizing improvements and breaking habitual behaviors that do not lead to learning.
Financial Backing
The school budget will show whether administrators are serious about professional development. Alvarado noted that most budgets are sorely under-funded in this area. The assumption is that the teaching is fine; students just need more learning time. But if the teaching is not working, he cautioned, more time won't make a difference. Teachers need coherent, practice-based professional development to improve learning, Alvarado said. He urged school leaders to “put your money where you believe—invest it in professionals.”
What You See Is What You Get
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A good way to predict if students are going to learn better, and if a good school is a good school, is not even to watch the students—although the results of adult learning must be seen in the work of teachers with students—it is just to see what the adults are doing in the school or school system. You could actually draw terrific conclusions from looking at adults and predicting what would happen with students. If in fact you don't have high-level conversations, discussion, and thinking between and among adults, why would you believe that this is magically going to happen in classrooms?
—Anthony Alvarado