Professional Development:  The KLFA Position Paper

“What teachers know and can do is the most important influence
on what students learn”
The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future

The Kansas Learning First Alliance believes the following:

• Staff development is the means by which educators acquire or enhance the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs necessary to create high levels of learning for all students..
• Research has demonstrated that staff development targeted at standards and curriculum leads to increased student achievement.
• Staff development plays a central role in comprehensive strategies for continuous school improvement.

As every successful business and organization knows, continued training and learning is vital to continued success. Staff development in education is necessary for many reasons. Knowledge is expanding at an unpredictably high rate and educators must remain current with their content disciplines. Young people’s access to information makes the classroom teacher’s practice a constantly changing endeavor. Technology, the tools used for information sharing require educators to add to their repertoire of teaching skills. New research leads to reconsideration and some changes of teaching practice. Our impact on each individual student’s learning needs to be understood and put into practice school by school.

The Kansas Learning First Alliance Goals:

• Educate all stakeholders so a solid understanding of quality staff development is acquired.
• Implement the National Staff Development Council Standards as a framework for results based staff development.
• Clarify the close link between school improvement, staff development, and student achievement.
• Encourage schools to allocate sufficient time throughout the school year for staff development
• Advocate for substantial increases in allocations for staff development.

Member associations of the Learning First Alliance agree the National Staff Development Standards for Staff Development are the necessary components of effective staff development.

Staff development that improves learning for all students:

• Organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district.
• Requires skillful school and district leaders who guide continuous instructional improvement.
• Requires resources to support adult learning and collaboration.
• Uses disaggregated student data to determine adult learning priorities, monitor progress, and help sustain continuous improvement.
• Uses multiple sources of information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impact.
• Prepares educators to apply research to decision making.
• Uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal.
• Applies knowledge about human learning and change.
• Provides educators with the knowledge and skills to collaborate.
• Prepares educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement.
• Deepens educators’ content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately.
• Provides educators with knowledge and skills to involve families and other stakeholders appropriately.

The Kansas State Board of Education is asked to:

• Endorse the use of the “Kansas Staff Development Rubric for District/School-Assessment” based on the NSDC Standards.
• Identify sites of model Staff development as resources for other districts.
• Support efforts to determine the current status of Staff development in Kansas.
• Continue to recommend full funding of the Kansas Inservice Act.