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Two-Way Street:

A two-prong approach to changing the

system
PSEAs mission is to supply information and
promote initiatives that improve the

education system at large and this mission

extends to dealing with professional

development. It is very possible that the PSEA

could change the conversation about teacher
development through a series of actions
dedicated to restructuring the way

professional development is handled across

the state. The incentives of Act 48 have

become regimented. Development hours are

being upheld so that teachers maintain their

certificates, but not enough emphasis is being

placed on the learning process for teachers.
This is where the PSEA comes in. By

redesigning the way its own professional

development programs are run and by

encouraging more active support from

schools, the PSEA could reroute the path of

TWO AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT:

1.) Teacher professional development
programs designed and promoted by the
PSEA:
- make programs for teachers that
engage in active participation and
collaboration between teachers in the
long-term

- put emphasis on the implementation of

programs rather than merely instruction
-encourage teachers to think critically

2.) Creating and promoting better sitebased management of teacher

effectiveness

- expand initiatives taken at the York City

School District to bring more site-based
management
- train administrators with the
information and tools to create
supportive school environments for
teacher development

- encourage administrators to make

professional development a part of its
department-

teacher development and set it on a course of

rising student success.

Changing Teacher Development Programs

PSEA has the power to redefine the values

upheld by teacher professional development programs across the state. Every year, the

PSEAs Continuing Professional Education Program releases a catalog of various teacher

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development programs that cover a range of topics, all approved by the Pennsylvania
Department of Education.i With its membership of 180,000 educators, the PSEAs

programs are most certainly making an impact in the structure of teacher professional

development across the state.ii A reinvigorated dedication to implementing new structures

to teacher development should be the PSEAs next step toward improving the state of
education in Pennsylvania.

Five Principles of Effective Teacher

Professional Development:

1.) Time invested must be sufficient for

results
2.) Support during implementation
3.) Active Participation in practices
4.) Modeling with other teachers
5.) Subject specific content

*According to research from Center for Public

Education

New programs for professional

development need to be, as John

Springer addresses in his annual

report, influenced by research that

explains how teachers actually learn.

Consider the principles laid out in

Teaching the Teachers.iii The most

imporant values of professional

development seem to be linked to how

teachers engage with the material they

are learning and what support they

receive in the learning process. With

this knowledge in hand, the PSEA could make major steps towards a more effective system.
There are a few very important elements that PSEA must be sure to incorporate into

the programs for the next Continuing Education catalog. The first is modeling, active

participation, and collaboration between and among educators. Teachers have the best

learning outcomes when they have examples of what certain teaching strategies look like
and can discuss and practice them with fellow teachers. Programs designed by the PSEA

must ensure that they incorporate these kinds of activities into the learning process. Not
only must content be adapted for getting information across, but also for giving teachers
the opportunity to apply it themselves.

The second, equally important element that PSEA must emphasize in new teacher

development programs is the investment of time. This is something the PSEA has already

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demonstrated a dedication to, but for teacher development to occur in meaningful ways,
the programs must extend beyond the short-term. iv A study conducted by the National
Staff Development Council found that while American school teachers attend short

workshops at the same rate as educators in other nations, the US is far behind in extending
the learning process through opportunities in the classroom. v Time also give teachers the
opportunity to engage in the critical thinking processes that ensure activities are being
considered for the maximization of student success.

The catalog of professional development courses offered by the PSEA in 2016 is

already going to be released. The only new mission the PSEA would have is to incorporate
a dedication to these elements for the benefit of thousands of teachers. They desperately
need a change in the way they are expected to learn new information and the solution
could very well come from the PSEA itself. This organization of teachers and

administrators across Pennsylvania could set the example for how Act 48 hours are

obtained from this point forward. Of course, a part of professional development that

cannot be forgotten is the support of the school environment. Here, the PSEA can play a

more facilitative role in promoting certain actions by schools so that they foster a sense of
support for their teachers.

Fostering Site-based Support for Teachers

As the voice for the teachers, the PSEA also has the ability to make a difference in the

manners through which school districts support teacher professional development. After
the programs end and teachers return to teaching in their classrooms, it is the duty of the
school districts to ensure that action is being taken to ensure that teachers are making

efforts to implement their new strategies. This means that there must be organizations for
supporting teachers in the difficult process of implementation of practices. Some of these
may be satisfied by direct PSEA oversight in the design of the professional development
program, but others need to come from the schools themselves. The PSEA can play an
informative and facilitative role in this process.

The PSEA needs to provide schools with information and aid in creating more site-

based support. Initiatives taken in the York City School District in the past year have

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already gone a long way to aid in this

missionvi. This allowed the PSEA to see how

better site-based management of

professional development could influence the

ultimate success of the programs.

Collaboration with the school community

allows teachers to think more critically

about the work they are doing and plan for

teaching with a goal-oriented mindset-

which in turn makes the implementation of

teacher development programs more

effective because they are being actively supported by the learning environment. Even
integrating professional development into teacher groups within a school, researcher

Ronald Gallimore indicates, can better prepare teachers for the implementation process.
PSEA must exercise their voice by providing school administrators with the

information and tools necessary to implement an evaluative system for teachers that aids
in the improvement of their teaching. The 2013 Educator Effectiveness System laid out a

variety of values that are instrumental in setting criteria for teachers and how they will be
evaluatedvii. However, there must also be a system for productive feedback that connects

to opportunities for improvement. The PSEA, which has the knowledge and know-how to
do what is best for teachers, is the best prepared for helping school districts help their
teachers. Administrators can take a more active role in providing teachers with the

support they need to maximize their teaching capability without significant expenditures
or uses of time, only a restructuring of evaluation techniques and meeting agendas.

Closer direct bonds between the PSEA and Pennsylvania school districts would

guarantee that teachers were working in environments that supported improvement of

teachers not just through the programs designed by the PSEA itself, but also in day-to-day
discussion of classroom practice. Teachers engaged with a learning environment learn

more from one another and think more critically about the work they are doing. viii If these

courses of action are asked of teachers in the programs they participate in for Act 48 and in

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everyday practices in the workplace, there could be meaningful change in the manner of

education across the state of Pennsylvania. Students would have quality teachers in front

of them who were dedicated to improving their skills and that, after all, is the ultimate goal
of professional development.

What is it all for?

The Pennsylvania State Education Association has demonstrated that it will do anything in

its power to ensure that schools around the state are supplying students and teachers with
the best situations for learning. In that past few years, the PSEA has recognized that there

needed to be some reevaluation of the needs of teachers in relation to the mandates of Act
48. It seemed necessary that new measures were established to make sure that the 180
hours of professional development went towards making effective changes and

improvements in teacher practices. John Springer acknowledged in his 2015 report that
the PSEA was turning to research to find the best solutions to problems in teacher
evaluation and professional development.ix

The research is in. Teachers must be treated as much as students as instructors.

The goal of professional development is not to burden them with hours of meaningless

information- it is to inform their teaching strategies in order to optimize student learning.

The best way to accomplish this is to give teachers as many tools as necessary to apply

their learning in the classroom. Modeling, active participation, and feedback from experts

are some of the best ways to get teachers interacting with new information and institute it
in their classroom. When teachers are encouraged to think critically about their practices
as they apply them in the classroom, their practices are more likely to improve and
therefore aid in students learning.

The PSEA has an opportunity to become a part of the solution to the shortcomings of

current professional programs by revolutionizing the design of its own Act 48 programs so
that they all give teachers the tools to actually apply their learning when they return to the
classroom. In addition, PSEA can also provide administrators with the information and
encouragement it takes to create supportive bases within their schools. The PSEAs

influence among its membership of 180,000 educators across the state of Pennsylvania

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could provide meaningful change simply through changing the conversation. Not only are

these courses of actions very feasible considering the resources and influence of the PSEA,
they are also in line with the overall mission the organization pursues. These changes are

not dramatic in that they fall in line with what the PSEA is already doing, just expanding the
scope of their actions.

In the end, the greatest priority is the extension of quality education to all students

in Pennsylvania. For this to happen, it is not enough to burden teachers with hours of

programming that doesnt apply to their classrooms. Teachers must be challenged and

supported for their teaching strategies to bring out the best in their students. This begins
with professional development but can only be upheld by significant efforts from

organizations like the PSEA to keep conversations going. This is where the change can
begin. This is where the state of education in Pennsylvania can change for the better.

https://www.psea.org/act48/
Pennsylvania State Education Association, About PSEA, http://www.psea.org/general.aspx?mid=802&id=278
iii
Gulamhussein, Allison. Teaching the Teachers: Effective Professional Development in an Era of High Stakes
Accountability. Center for Public Education, 2013. Web. 23 March 2016
iv
Pennsylvania State Education Association, Support comprehensive professional development and collaboration,
http://www.psea.org/uploadedFiles/LegislationAndPolitics/Solutions_That_Work/STWProfessionalDevelopment.pdf
v
Linda Darling Hammond et al, Professional Learning in the Learning Profession: A Status Report on Teacher
Development in the United States and Abroad, National Staff Development Council,
http://learningforward.org/docs/pdf/nsdcstudy2009.pdf
vi
John Springer. PSEA Building a Stronger Union: 2015 Executive Directors Annual Report,
http://www.psea.org/uploadedFiles/AboutPSEA/AnnualReport2015.pdf
vii
Pennsylvania Department of Education, Educator Effectiveness Administrative Manual, Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania Department of Education,
http://www.education.pa.gov/Documents/TeachersAdministrators/Educator%20Effectiveness/Educator%20Effectiveness%20Administrative%20Manual.pdf
viii
Ronald Gallimore et al.. Moving the Learning of Teaching Closer to Practice: Teacher Education Implications of
Schoolbased Inquiry Teams. The Elementary School Journal 109.5 (2009): 537553.
http://sk8es4mc2l.scholar.serialssolutions.com/?sid=google&auinit=R&aulast=Gallimore&atitle=Moving+the+learn
ing+of+teaching+closer+to+practice:+Teacher+education+implications+of+school%E2%80%90based+inquiry+team
s&id=doi:10.1086/597001&title=The+Elementary+school+journal&volume=109&issue=5&date=2009&spage=537
&issn=0013-5984
ix
John Springer. PSEA Building a Stronger Union: 2015 Executive Directors Annual Report,
http://www.psea.org/uploadedFiles/AboutPSEA/AnnualReport2015.pdf
i

ii

Pictures:

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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Pam_Robertson,_Grade_12A_Teacher_at_Sinenj
ongo_High_School,_Joe_Slovo_Park,_Cape_Town,_South_Africa-3320.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6156/6169551405_839a8fd649_b.jpg