Five Models of Staff

Development
Sparks, Dennis and Loucks-Horsley,
Susan(1989). Five Models of Staff
Development. Journal of Staff Development. 10
1-26.
Five Models of Staff Development
 Individually-guided staff development
 Observation/assessment
 Involvement in a development/improvement
process
 Training
 Inquiry
Individually-guided

“I have come to feel that the only learning

which significantly influences behavior is
self-discovered, self-appropriated
learning.”

Rogers, 1969, p. 153

Individually-guided - Defined
 A process through which teachers plan for
and pursue activities they believe will
promote their own learning.
 Designed by the teacher
 Teacher defined goals and activities
Individually-guided - Underlying
Assumptions
 Individuals can judge their own needs and that they
are capable of self direction and self-initiated
learning.
 Adults learn most efficiently when they initiate and
plan their learning rather than spend their time in
irrelevant activities of little interest.
 Most motivated when they select their own leaning
goals based on their personal of their needs.
Individually-guided - Theoretical and
Research Underpinnings
 Adult learning theory
 Kidd (1973) and Knowles (1980)
 Increasingly self-directed
 Stimulated by real life tasks and problems
 Stage Theory
 Levine (1989)
 Different stages of development have different needs
Individually-guided - Theoretical and
Research Underpinnings
 Learning styles researchers
 Dunn & Dunn (1978); Gregorc (1979)
 Individuals differ in the way they process information
and in the manner they learn
 Concerns-based Adoption Model (CBAM)
 Hall & Loucks (1978)
 As individuals learn new behaviors and change their
practice, they experience different concerns that in
turn requires different types of responses from staff
developers
Individually-guided - Phases of
Activity
 Identification of need or interest
 Develop a plan to meet the need or interest
 The learning activity
 Assessment of whether the learning meets the
identified need or interest.
Observation/Assessment

“Feedback is the breakfast of champions”

Blanchard & Johnson

The One Minute Manager
Observation/Assessment
 Many teachers receive little or no feedback
and in some cases they only observed once
every three years.
 May be a powerful staff development model
but is perceived by teachers as evaluation.
 In reality other forms such as peer coaching
and clinical supervision fall into this
category
Observation/Assessment - Underlying
Assumptions
 “Reflection and analysis are central means of
professional growth”. Loucks-Horsley (1987, p. 61)
 Reflection by an individual on his or her own
practice can be enhanced by another’s observation.
 Observation and assessment of classroom teachers
can benefit both parties – the observer and the
observed
 When teachers see positive results from their efforts
to change they are more apt to engage in
improvement
Observation/Assessment theoretical
and research underpinnings
 Teacher Evaluation
 McGreal (1982)
 Classroom observation plays a key role
 Concern about reliability
 Two ways to increase reliability
 Narrow the range of what to look for (Madeline Hunter)
 Use a pre-conference to increase the knowledge of the
observer prior to the observation
Observation/Assessment - Theoretical
and Research Underpinnings
 Clinical Supervision
 Glatthorn (1984)
 Recommends clinical supervisors (or coaches)
alternate unfocused observations with focused
observations
 Unfocused – observer usually takes verbatim notes on all
significant behaviors
 Data gathered is used to identify strengths and potential
problems that are discussed in a problem-solving
feedback conference
 Focused – observer gathers data related to identified problem
Observation/Assessment - Theoretical
and Research Underpinnings
 Clinical supervision
 Glickman (1986)
 Suggest that feedback be to provided teachers based
on cognitive levels.
 “low-abstract” receive direct conferences ( problem
identification and solution comes from the coach)
 “moderate-abstract” receive collaborative conferences (an
exchange of perceptions about problems and negotiated
solutions)
 “high-abstract” receive nondirective approach (coach or
supervisor helps the teacher clarify problems and choose a
course of action)
Observation/Assessment - Phases of
Activity
 Pre-observation conference
 Observation
 Analysis of data
 Post-observation conference
 In some cases, analysis of the
observation/assessment process
Involvement in a Development/
Improvement Process
 Teachers are asked to:
 Develop or adapt curriculum
 Design programs
 Engage in a systematic school improvement
 Any or all of these with the focus of improving
classroom instruction and/or curriculum.
 Successful completion requires the teacher to gain
additional knowledge to complete the task.
 This model focuses on the combination of learnings
that result from the involvement of teacher in the
process.
Involvement in a Development/ Improvement
Process - Underlying Assumptions
 Adults learn more easily when they have a need to
know or a problem to solve (Knowles, 1980).
 People working closest to the job best understand
what is required to improve their performance.
 Teachers acquire important knowledge or skills
through their involvement in school improvement or
curriculum development processes.
Involvement in a Development/ Improvement
Process - Theoretical and Research Underpinnings
 Curriculum Development
 Joyce and Showers (1988)
 “It has been well established that curriculum implementation is
demanding of staff development – essentially, without strong
staff development programs that are appropriately designed a
very low level of implementation occurs” (p. 44).
 Glickman (1987)
 Three ways teachers can modify a district’s curriculum guide
 Taking lists of objectives and recommended teaching methods and
turning them into a set of usable instructional guides
 Adapt the guide to students’ special needs
 Enhance the guide by developing optional enrichment units.
Involvement in a Development/ Improvement
Process - Theoretical and Research Underpinnings
 Curriculum Development
 Glatthorn
 Activities should be done in groups thus teachers will become more
cohesive and will share ideas about teaching and learning in general, as
well as, on the development task at hand.
 School Improvement
 Loucks-Horsley and Hergert (1985)
 Described seven action steps in a school improvement process that are
based in research on implementation of new practices in schools
 Cohen (1981)
 Research on effective schools underpins an approach to school
improvement through staff development
Curriculum Development and School
Improvement - Phases of Activity
 Identification of a problem or need by an individual,
a group of teachers, a school faculty, or a district
administrator.
 Response is formulated
 May be formal or informal
 Response may be immediate or may require brainstorming
sessions
 May require consultation with a larger group (i.e., whole faculty)
 Specific knowledge or skills may be required
 Implement or produce the product
Training
… the purpose of providing training in any practice is not
simply to generate the external visible teaching “moves” that
bring that practice to bear in the instructional setting but to
generate the conditions that enable the practice to be selected
and used appropriately and integratively …a major, perhaps the
major, dimension of teaching skill is cognitive in nature
Showers, Joyce, and Bennett (1987, p. 85-86)
Training
 Many educators equate training with staff
development
 Training session is conducted with a clear set
of objectives or learner outcomes that may
include
 Awareness or knowledge
 Skill development
Training - Underlying Assumptions
 There are behaviors and techniques that are
worthy of replication by teachers in the
classroom
 That teachers can change their behaviors and
learn to replicate behaviors in the classroom
that were not previously in their repertoire
Training - Theoretical and Research
Underpinnings
 Training Model
 Joyce and Showers (1988)
 Depending on the desired outcomes, training might
include:
 Exploration of theory
 Demonstration or modeling of a skill
 Practice of a skill under simulated conditions
 Feedback about performance
 Coaching in the workplace
 Combination of components is necessary if the
outcome is skill development
Training - Theoretical and Research
Underpinnings
 Training Model
 Sparks
 Discussion and peer observation are important as training
activities
 Loucks-Horsley et al. (1987); Sparks (1983)
 Training sessions spaced one or more weeks apart in order to
allow for improved comprehension and so teachers have
opportunities for classroom practice and peer coaching are shown
to be more effective than “one-shot” sessions
 Sparks (1983); Wu (1987) and Wood and Kleine (1987)
 Point out the value of teachers as trainers of their peers
Training - Phases of activity
 Involve participants in the planning
 Allow for interaction in the training session
among peers
 After training, in-classroom assistance in the
form of peer observation and coaching is
critical to the transfer of more complex
teaching skills
Inquiry

“the most effective avenue for professional development

is cooperative study by teachers themselves into a
problem and issues arising from their attempts to make
practice consistent with their educational values…[The
approach] aims to give greater control over what is to
count as valid educational knowledge to teachers.”

(Ingvarson, 1987, p. 15.17)

Inquiry
 Teacher inquiry may be a solitary activity, be done
in small groups, or be conducted by school faculty.
 May be formal or informal
 May occur in the classroom, at a teacher center, or
results from a university class
 Research is an important activity in which teachers
should be engaged, although they rarely participate
in it other than as “subjects.”
Inquiry - Underlying Assumptions
 Teachers are intelligent, inquiring individuals with
legitimate expertise and important experience.
 Teachers are inclined to search for data to answer
pressing questions and to reflect on the data to
formulate solutions.
 Teachers will develop new understanding as they
formulate their questions and collect their own data
to answer them. (Loucks-Horsley et al., 1987)
Inquiry - Theoretical and Research
Underpinnings
 Inquiry-oriented teachers
 Dewey (1933)
 Need for teachers to take a “reflective action.”
 Zeichner (1983)
 Advocacy for “teachers as action researchers,”
“teacher scholars.” “teacher innovators,” “self-
monitoring teachers,” and “teachers as participant
observers.”
Inquiry - Theoretical and Research
Underpinnings
 Interactive research
 Tikunoff (1983)
 Interactive research and development promotes inquiry into the
questions they are asking through close work with researchers (who help
with methodology) and staff developers (who help with the creation of
ways of sharing their results with others).
 Lieberman (1986)
 Teachers server on collaborative teams pursuing answers to schoolwide
rather than classroom problems
 Watts (1985)
 Role of collaborative research, classroom action research, and teacher
support groups in encouraging teacher inquiry.
 Sparks (1985)
 Use of action research to help teachers better relate research on teaching
to their unique classrooms.
Inquiry - Theoretical and Research
Underpinnings
 Action Research
 Glickman (1986)
 Advocates action research in the form of quality circles,
problem-solving groups, and school improvement projects as a
means to develop teacher thought.
 Cross (1987)
 Proposed classroom research as a means to evaluate their own
teaching
 Glatthorn (1987)
 Action research by teams of teachers as a peer-centered option
for promoting professional growth.
Inquiry - Phases of Activity
 Identify a problem
 Explore ways of collecting data that may
range from existing theoretical and research
literature to gathering original classroom or
school data
 Analyze and interpret these data
 Changes are made and new data are gathered
to determine the effects of the intervention