Standard 8.3 | Evaluation & Reflection
Evaluate the impact of professional learning and continually reflect on how to improve coaching and professional practice. (PSC-IT 8.3)
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Contextualization
We have recently had a schoolwide instructional technology coaching program for the adaptive learning program, Progress Learning. This program offers resources that are standards aligned to each state and prepare students for state assessments. Our initial professional development and subsequent coaches meeting did not use any evaluation instruments. Using Guskey’s levels of evaluation of professional development and the standards for professional learning by Learning Forward, I have created evaluation instruments for this professional learning. Below I will discuss my brief plan on how these instruments and the resulting data would be used evaluate the professional development at all 5 levels of Guskey’s framework.
Evaluate the impact of professional learning and continually reflect on how to improve coaching and professional practice. (PSC-IT 8.3)
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Contextualization
We have recently had a schoolwide instructional technology coaching program for the adaptive learning program, Progress Learning. This program offers resources that are standards aligned to each state and prepare students for state assessments. Our initial professional development and subsequent coaches meeting did not use any evaluation instruments. Using Guskey’s levels of evaluation of professional development and the standards for professional learning by Learning Forward, I have created evaluation instruments for this professional learning. Below I will discuss my brief plan on how these instruments and the resulting data would be used evaluate the professional development at all 5 levels of Guskey’s framework.
Evaluation Instrument
Level 1: Participants’ Reactions
Teachers in grades 3-5 attended a live, virtual professional development session held by a Progress Learning representative. To evaluate their reaction to the professional learning experience, teachers would complete a 3-2-1 Exit Ticket by responding to the prompts seen below.
Level 2: Participants’ Learning
This second level of Guskey’s professional development evaluation is about measuring the new knowledge educators have acquired after the professional development. After the overview of Progress Learning, teachers had a follow-up PLD within their grade levels with the academic coaches. At that time, discussions were about how the implementation is going and ways to support it. The PLD included how to access reports and monitor student usage. A great evaluation instrument here would be a K-W-L Anchor Chart. At the start of the PLD, teachers would write what they already Know about the topic, in the “K” section of the chart. At the same time, teachers would complete the “W” section of the anchor chart with what they Want to know. At the conclusion of the PLD, teachers would complete the what they Learned section.
Level 3: Organizational Support and Change
After the previous professional learning development session, the academic coaches can use the KWL charts to further address the teachers’ needs. In addition, this level requires conversations with administrators. The academic coaches and administrators will use the school data to review the implementation of the program. According to Guskey, this information can be used “to document and improve organizational support as well as to inform future change efforts." In addition, teachers can receive “shout-outs” celebrating their successes and be recognized on the daily news or in the weekly newsletter.
Level 4: Participants’ Use of New Knowledge and Skills
At this level, the focus is on whether teachers have applied their new knowledge and skills and has it made a difference in their professional practice. Some instruments of evaluation that can be used here include observations, surveys, and the collection of documents such as lesson plans and student work. Progress Monitoring Reports from Progress Learning can also be used to document and improve the implementation of the program content.
Level 5: Student Learning Outcomes
This last level is all about the impact that the professional development has had on students. The best instruments for this would be the assessment scores. With the backward implementation in mind, the goal of the Progress Learning professional development was to help students achieve greater scores on standardized assessments. Though the results of such assessments do not come out until the end of the school year, the data will determine the overall impact of professional development. The new data can be compared with the previous year’s data and compared against other similar schools who did not utilize the Progress Learning adaptive program. Such data is available from the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement from the state. Using this as an instrument would make for meaningful comparison according to Guskey as it would not be just data from our school, and it would not lack reliability and validity.
Teachers in grades 3-5 attended a live, virtual professional development session held by a Progress Learning representative. To evaluate their reaction to the professional learning experience, teachers would complete a 3-2-1 Exit Ticket by responding to the prompts seen below.
Level 2: Participants’ Learning
This second level of Guskey’s professional development evaluation is about measuring the new knowledge educators have acquired after the professional development. After the overview of Progress Learning, teachers had a follow-up PLD within their grade levels with the academic coaches. At that time, discussions were about how the implementation is going and ways to support it. The PLD included how to access reports and monitor student usage. A great evaluation instrument here would be a K-W-L Anchor Chart. At the start of the PLD, teachers would write what they already Know about the topic, in the “K” section of the chart. At the same time, teachers would complete the “W” section of the anchor chart with what they Want to know. At the conclusion of the PLD, teachers would complete the what they Learned section.
Level 3: Organizational Support and Change
After the previous professional learning development session, the academic coaches can use the KWL charts to further address the teachers’ needs. In addition, this level requires conversations with administrators. The academic coaches and administrators will use the school data to review the implementation of the program. According to Guskey, this information can be used “to document and improve organizational support as well as to inform future change efforts." In addition, teachers can receive “shout-outs” celebrating their successes and be recognized on the daily news or in the weekly newsletter.
Level 4: Participants’ Use of New Knowledge and Skills
At this level, the focus is on whether teachers have applied their new knowledge and skills and has it made a difference in their professional practice. Some instruments of evaluation that can be used here include observations, surveys, and the collection of documents such as lesson plans and student work. Progress Monitoring Reports from Progress Learning can also be used to document and improve the implementation of the program content.
Level 5: Student Learning Outcomes
This last level is all about the impact that the professional development has had on students. The best instruments for this would be the assessment scores. With the backward implementation in mind, the goal of the Progress Learning professional development was to help students achieve greater scores on standardized assessments. Though the results of such assessments do not come out until the end of the school year, the data will determine the overall impact of professional development. The new data can be compared with the previous year’s data and compared against other similar schools who did not utilize the Progress Learning adaptive program. Such data is available from the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement from the state. Using this as an instrument would make for meaningful comparison according to Guskey as it would not be just data from our school, and it would not lack reliability and validity.
Artifacts
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