Organized around three key national standards for professional development: content, process, & context * Presents five differentiated collaborative modules * Emphasizes research & practice for administrators * Concept maps, tables, and charts emphasize key points Nurture teacher development through focused and realistic approaches! Although school administrators consider supporting and sustaining teachers' professional development a priority, more pressing day-to-day imperatives often eclipse this goal. Supporting and Sustaining Teachers' Professional Development specifically targets busy headteachers who want practical suggestions for how to balance these everyday administrative tasks with encouraging teacher's professional growth. New, experienced, and aspiring school leaders will learn how to improve student achievement, retain highly qualified teachers, and ground school practices in sound research by learning how to encourage your teachers while remaining committed to your leadership responsibilities.

This book focuses on sustaining communities of practice in primary and secondary schools in Australia and internationally for the professional learning of all teachers, and particularly, early career teachers. Informed by the communities of practice research of Wenger-Trayner, it shows what factors are conductive to the sustainability of communities of practice, drawing particularly on a case study of an Australian regional secondary school, and explores how it has sustained support particularly for early career teachers over a three-year period. The first chapters of the book provide longitudinal perspectives using qualitative data and include perspectives from a variety of stakeholders, including the principal, the professional learning coordinator and the early career teachers who have experienced the school’s Communities of practice over three or more years. It offers practical suggestions on how to implement and improve communities of practice in schools and highlights the increasing importance of online communities to support early career teachers. Policy-makers, school principals, teacher educators and teaching practitioners find the book useful for implementing and sustaining communities of practice in schools. Subsequent chapters explore the value of online communities, such as Twitter communities; the role of collegial support networks in supporting early career teachers in Flemish primary education; and professional learning in Northern Ireland pre- and in-service teacher networked communities.

"I love, love, love this book! This smorgasbord of professional development strategies maximizes time and on-site expertise. From the perspective of educators hungry for cost-effective, proven ways to promote ongoing, job-embedded professional learning, this is an à la carte menu for building healthy professional development ′meals′ based on specific needs and available resources." —Gail Ritchie, Instructional Coach Fairfax County Public Schools, VA "This book offers a menu of practical, integrated, research-based tools and processes that engage and empower teachers and administrators in co-constructing a powerful form of job-embedded professional development that is relevant, focused, and organic, and allows schools to transform themselves into a self-sustaining learning organization." —Pedro R. Bermúdez, Professional Development Support Ready Schools Miami, FL Achieve effective, on-site teacher development without breaking the budget! This essential guide to job-embedded staff development helps schools and districts move away from reliance on outside expertise, instead drawing on and developing the experience and skills of their own faculty. The authors provide a complete toolbox of school-based professional development (PD) strategies, with recommendations on which tools to use for different times and settings, guidelines for implementation, and extended examples of each tool in action for a full spectrum of proven, cost-effective PD models, including: Book study and lesson study Action research and professional learning communities Coaching and co-teaching Webinars, podcasts, Open Space Technology, online communities, and much more

"Ready-to-use templates and clear instructions make this material user-friendly and clear. Especially helpful is the cross-reference matrix showing how a strategy can be used in more than one area." —William Osman, President New Jersey Staff Development Council "An excellent introduction integrates the five ′theaters of the mind′ in a brief and coherent way." —Christelle Estrada, Director of Professional Development Services Salt Lake City School District, UT A comprehensive set of tools for achieving lasting results and sustaining a professional learning community! Sustaining results-oriented team efforts is hard work, and achieving diversified solutions to complex issues over time requires commitment and creativity. To support the momentum of learning communities, Teacher Teams That Get Results: 61 Strategies for Sustaining and Renewing Professional Learning Communities provides an illustrated collection of ready-to-use tools and examples of plans in action for results-oriented faculty and staff. Focusing on the where, what, why, how, and when to use each of the 61 strategies, best-selling authors Gayle H. Gregory and Lin Kuzmich offer the tools your team needs to succeed. You will learn to: Create and sustain a growth-oriented climate that encourages feedback and builds trust Share knowledge and skills to expand and optimize results Build resilience, develop creative solutions, and manage change Determine priorities and create excellence when goal setting, tying data to practice, and analyzing results An indispensable guide for teachers, teacher leaders, and school administrators, this handbook is ideal for school and district staff serving as meeting and workshop leaders and facilitators.

This comprehensive handbook synthesizes the best current knowledge on teacher professional development (PD) and addresses practical issues in implementation. Leading authorities describe innovative practices that are being used in schools, emphasizing the value of PD that is instructive, reflective, active, collaborative, and substantive. Strategies for creating, measuring, and sustaining successful programs are presented. The book explores the relationship of PD to adult learning theory, school leadership, district and state policy, the growth of professional learning communities, and the Common Core State Standards. Each chapter concludes with thought-provoking discussion questions. The appendix provides eight illuminating case studies of PD initiatives in diverse schools.

Discover how high-performing systems shape teaching quality around the world Producing highly skilled and committed teachers is not the work of a single innovative school or the aggregation of heroic individuals who succeed against the odds. In high-performing countries, the opportunities for teachers to learn sophisticated practices and continue to improve are embedded systemically in education policies and practices. Empowered Educators describes how this seemingly magical work is done—how a number of forward-thinking educational systems create a coherent set of policies designed to ensure quality teaching in all communities. . . and how the results are manifested in practice. Spanning three continents and five countries, Empowered Educators examines seven jurisdictions that have worked to develop comprehensive teaching policy systems: Singapore and Finland, the states of New South Wales and Victoria in Australia, the provinces of Alberta and Ontario in Canada, and the province of Shanghai in China. Renowned education expert Linda Darling-Hammond and a team of esteemed scholars offer lessons learned in a number of areas that shape the teaching force and the work of teachers, shedding unprecedented light on areas such as teacher recruitment, preparation, induction and mentoring, professional learning, career and leadership development, and more. Find out how quality teaching is developed and conducted across the globe Discover a common set of strategies for developing, supporting, and sustaining the ongoing learning and development of teachers and school leaders See how high-performing countries successfully recruit and train educators Understand why the sharing of expertise among teachers and administrators within and across schools is beneficial A fascinating read for researchers, policymakers, administrators, teacher educators, pre-service teachers and leaders, and anyone with an interest in education, this book offers a rare glimpse into the systems that are shaping quality teaching around the world.

This book investigates the professional learning needs of teachers beyond initial teacher education, focusing on teachers in complex teaching positions, such as out-of-field teaching practices. The information presented here will help to improve professional learning strategies, while also offering an in-depth understanding of teachers’ needs, leaders’ perceptions, and what complex teaching situations mean for teachers’ professional learning and development. Further, Du Plessis shares the perceptions and lived experiences of teachers, parents, leaders and students as key stakeholders in quality teaching and learning environments. In light of new evidence-informed findings on the out-of-field phenomenon and continuing professional learning, Du Plessis puts forward strategies that will enhance the effectiveness of professional learning and development programs, while also fostering improved decision-making and policy development. In brief, Du Plessis focuses on the impact that complex teaching situations have on teachers’ unique needs, the support that is provided, and the influence of the out-of-field phenomenon on teachers’ responses to continuing professional learning and development programs.