The Problem with Professional Development (Part 2)

In part one of this blog series, I focused on my conversations with elementary educators related to their self-reported professional development needs. This installment reports on my discussions with secondary teachers as they talked about their day-to-day realities.

Secondary teachers shared that many of their challenges are centered around filling in learning gaps, rebuilding student routines from before the pandemic, increasing parental involvement, and motivating students to take a more active role in their learning.

Further, secondary teachers were concerned about student achievement resulting from the aforementioned challenges as a barrier to graduation. Adding to the problem is the teacher shortage, which has led to an increased number of inexperienced and subpar teachers, along with teachers who have seemingly given up on doing what it takes to ensure their students’ success.

Teacher stress, which leads to burnout, continues to be a concern for both elementary and secondary teachers, especially since the pandemic began. Peter DeWitt’s Finding Common Ground blog posted a piece that pointed out how the pandemic revealed fundamental weaknesses in our educational institutions. 

DeWitt’s post asserted that through joint determination, complex changes in education can be made. Joint determination refers to those in authority and those in a problem situation working together on solutions. Are we listening to what teachers have to say regarding their professional development needs?

In the piece, one teacher reported that colleagues who had been highly involved in the school community by facilitating extracurricular activities were now less inclined to participate. Circumstances such as this have led to the need for additional assignments, courses, and clubs for the teachers who do show up. Though teachers report being passionate about their students’ success, many are feeling like the realities they experience in today’s schools are too much to bear for their own well-being.

A research brief titled Structural Supports to Promote Teacher Well-Being,  part of a series by EdResearch for Recovery, provides an evidence base for K-12 education leaders and stakeholders to undergird discussions on addressing the current needs of students. The brief posed a relevant question: “What does the research say about structural supports that enable teacher well-being?”

Three key insights were covered in the brief:

1. Breaking Down the Issue

2. Strategies to Consider

3. Strategies to Avoid

Under Strategies to Avoid is a statement that is germane to the present blog post: “Although school leaders set the direction in the school, prescribing practices without teacher involvement and monitoring compliance often result in low levels of teacher buy-in and adoption [emphasis added].” 

The EdResearch for Recovery brief shared many important findings from studies and surveys conducted with teachers across the country. One of the major takeaways for school districts was that open communication with educators and collecting data on teachers’ professional concerns allows school and district leaders to more accurately identify and address the root causes of teachers’ dissatisfaction. These root causes would be an excellent baseline from which to build professional development offerings.

The U.S. Surgeon General’s 2022 Framework for Workplace Mental Health & Well-Being is a 30-page document that makes a similar case: “Creating an environment where workers’ voices are supported without fear of job loss or retaliation is an essential component of healthy organizations.” The framework document provides rich insight on the challenges today’s workers are facing and how organizational changes can help support them. 

The report’s actual framework, shown in the figure below, “includes five Essentials and necessary components for addressing workplace mental health and well-being based on human needs.” These components are centered on worker voice and equity.

The framework document further states that “organizational leaders, managers, supervisors, and workers alike have an unprecedented opportunity to examine the role of work in our lives and explore ways to better enable all workers to thrive within the workplace and beyond.” One right step in that direction is through professional development.

The Surgeon General’s report is very detailed, insightful, and rich with resources. The conclusion reiterates the importance of prioritizing staff voice:

Ultimately, sustainable change must be driven by committed leaders in continuous collaboration with the valued workers who power each workplace. The most important asset in any organization is its people. By choosing to center their voices, we can ensure that everyone has a platform to thrive.

In my conversations with teachers, I noticed similarities between the responses of elementary teachers and the responses of secondary teachers. I posed this question to secondary teachers: “What type of professional development (PD) training would best meet your needs in your current role?” Their responses were as follows:

• PD for greater cultural competence such as DEI training with actionable steps

• Social-emotional PD sessions to help teachers find their balance

• PD to provide a greater sense of safety within schools

• Practical strategies that can be implemented in practice rather than information that sounds good in theory

• Differentiated PD based on a teacher’s experience/expertise

• Involve teachers in deciding what type of PD they need and what would be most valuable to them

Current research indicates that teacher job satisfaction is at its lowest level in 50 years. While dissatisfaction with the teaching profession is not new, one thing is certain – the pandemic has exposed a wound that has been left untreated for far too long. I found so much value in Peetz’s short post in EdWeek, but this line truly resonated with me: “If we care fundamentally about student learning, then we need to care fundamentally about teachers.”

Teachers are no longer silent about what they want and need. Until school districts make major changes—for example, paying teachers for the additional time they put in, reducing ineffective/outdated tasks, giving teachers greater autonomy in meeting the diverse needs of their students—we will continue to offer platforms for teachers to find solace, build solidarity and resilience, and most of all, to feel valued. 

If the goal of professional development is to develop the capacity of teachers, shouldn’t it address the needs of teachers? The major concerns that teachers have, the ones that are driving them from the profession they love, are seldom about curriculum, which is typically the focus of PD. Professional development can and should utilize teacher input to inform its direction and relevance for educators.

The Problem with Professional Development (Part 1)

Have you ever had the misfortune of attending a professional development (PD) session that had little interest or value in your current role? Have you walked away feeling like those were hours of your life you'd never get back? Or maybe you came away feeling inspired to ensure that given the opportunity to facilitate a PD session you’d make sure the same thing never happens on your watch. 

There is so much variety in professional development options as they lend themselves to recertification, knowledge of best practices in education, or in unpacking the curriculum. However, school divisions would be remiss if they didn't begin to count the cost of tapping into what teachers are saying they need. 

Are we meeting the most important needs of today’s teachers? 

If so, how do we know?

Are we developing resilient teachers?

The problem with professional development is that in many instances it functions as a requirement of an organization, as a means to recertification, or as some other form of box to be checked. While there may be some semblance of options in topics, the choice often comes down to session availability and personal or organizational time constraints. Many times we settle for a PD session simply to meet the requirement and hope to walk away with some new learning, but too often we walk away frustrated thinking about what could have been.

Simply put, the problem is that choosing PD seldom includes INPUT from its intended audience.

If nothing else, the changing global landscape and world events of recent years have necessitated the need for flexibility in thinking and how we meet the needs of our workers. 

Nearly every industry has maintained shortages in staffing which have impacted the supply chain, increased the workload for the employees who show up in their current roles, and impacted the quality of customer service. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce examined these shortages in greater detail in Understanding America’s Labor Shortage: The Most Impacted Industries. The graph below is from the article. 

The burden of this new reality has created a level of overload that permeates all systems. Assuming positive intent, employees are doing the best that they can with the current circumstances as well as in their present level of training and support.

In the world of education, classrooms are seemingly the same but the issues for teachers have amplified. Teachers are feeling that the strategies they employed previously are no longer effective. Add to that the need to spend their personal time to research, read, and learn new instructional techniques to facilitate with fidelity has become too much for many. Sadly, we see that passionate teachers are walking away from the profession.

A recent article in EdWeek, What Staffing Shortages Look Like Now proffered, “While policymakers may focus on the dearth of overall applicants, experts said the variety of staffing shortages means school and district leaders will need to undertake more targeted solutions than simply to increase recruitment across the board.” Education leaders are looking at various school models and engaging with business leaders and community members to innovate next level learning spaces to support the changing needs of their employees.

So why should professional development be any different? There is a growing outpouring of educators who desire something more from their PD offerings. These professionals are seeking spaces that thrive on innovation, fresh ideas, and the inclusion of their voices.  They are looking for spaces where all can genuinely feel seen, valued, and heard and contribute in a way that suits their interests and needs. I like to think of it as personalized learning for adults.

In talking about PD, the National Education Association notes that professional development is an intentional practice to refine educators’ skills and professional judgment through  factors such as  “the changing landscape of issues and needs that educators must address in working with students, families, and communities.”

The face of PD must change. Today’s educators are calling for something new, not just novice teachers but teachers who have passionately pursued this path for decades. Many are craving a space that looks nothing like a required session. 

They need something more personal and affirming. They need something that reconnects them to why they became teachers in the first place. They need a community of others who share their needs and concerns, where they can find support and realize that they are not existing alone in a silo. Educators are leaving because they see no end to “all the things” that are daily stressors. Very little is offered or available to provide them with some semblance of hope for change.

In 1991, a marketing and psychological expert named Ernest Dichter coined the term focus group. Focus groups are “meetings held with a small group of participants with the objective of discussion,” and have proven valuable in many industries, including education, for eliciting real-time qualitative data to inform diverse issues and programming needs. 

While working with several focus groups of teachers via a learning community titled The Teacher’s Lounge, I posed this question: What type of training would best meet your needs in your current role? Their responses were:

• Real strategies for dealing with challenging behaviors 

• Maintaining joy on the job

• The art of subtracting

• Navigating the intersection of professional responsibility and self-care

• Ongoing personalized coaching/support

Surprisingly, in none of our conversations did content or curriculum emerge as a need. These conversations included both new and veteran elementary school teachers from across the country.  One group was specifically for novice teachers. For the purposes of the focus groups novice teachers were teachers with one to three years of experience. Veteran teachers were teachers with four or more years of experience. My third group was open to all teachers. In each group the conversations were the same.

Having worked as a teacher for decades I am extremely passionate about school environments and what teachers need to support and sustain them. Most importantly, I know that when teachers are happy and learning so are our students.

I will talk more about what emerges from my conversations with teachers in my follow-up post.

Educators Prioritizing Their Own Health and Wellness. How and Why They Can and Should.

As the school year gets underway it would be fair to say that many educators are coming back to school with mixed emotions. Of course, there is excitement for the opportunity to positively impact the lives of students, while there is also dread for the onslaught of work and the unreasonable expectations that never seem to end. Whether you’re a teacher or administrator, the weight of the academic year impacts us along with our students and our families. When too much becomes too much, the result is burnout. Multiple media accounts have shared stories of teachers who announced they were leaving the profession they love for a myriad of reasons. Educator concerns are real and the unique emotional toll on each individual should be respected.

Over the last few years, school systems have prioritized the importance of students’ social-emotional health. Initiatives such as the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning’s (CASEL) framework prioritize student social-emotional learning (SEL) with the whole child to leverage improved academic success. According to the CASEL website, “an education that promotes SEL has a positive impact on a wide range of outcomes, including academic performance, healthy relationships, mental wellness, and more.” What about the social-emotional health of adults who work in today’s schools?

A recent shift finds many school districts putting an emphasis on staff health and well-being. This is certainly a step in the right direction, as teacher attrition rates have caused a hiring crisis for school districts nationwide. Some states have even relaxed teacher certification requirements in their systems to combat the shortages. While this fairly new concept of staff well-being is emerging from the top down, there are things we can do for ourselves.

When the needs of educators are met, we can better serve the students in their care. Many of us are so consumed with our everyday responsibilities that we seldom slow down to harness our inner ability to master our own wellness. We have to take time to assess how we are mentally, physically, and spiritually. In her piece on work-life balance, Cynthia McQueen expertly states, people need to “check in before they check out.” In other words, we have to be more self-aware. I am a great believer that our best help comes from within. As we embark on a fresh academic year with so much burgeoning potential, consider the following suggestions for nurturing your own wellness.

Set Healthy Boundaries

Let’s be clear, we all have expectations that are part of our work assignments. However, the problem is repeatedly relaxing our boundaries to include just one more thing, which over time can create stress, resentment, and possibly burnout. A way to alleviate this is by establishing and maintaining healthy boundaries from the onset so you won’t compromise yourself or overestimate what you can do. Learn the power and freedom of saying no. The ability to say no will free you from extending your boundaries and help you stay balanced.

Setting boundaries is something that no one can do for you. In the work environment it simply means what you will and will not hold yourself responsible for. In his article, How to Set Healthy Boundaries, Joaquín Selva says that “setting boundaries is an important part of establishing one’s identity and is a crucial aspect of mental health and wellbeing.” Too often in schools we overwork ourselves, trying to adhere to unrealistic expectations and maintain favor with others. Let’s normalize saying “No. I’m sorry I am unable to do that.”

Intentional Self-Engagement

Make taking care of yourself a critical component in maintaining a proper work-life balance. This looks like prioritizing your interests, not feeling guilty about taking time for yourself and your family, and realizing that you should not let your professional life consume your private life. Remember, you can’t pour from an empty cup. Also, the practices you put in place as you start your year will lay the foundation for how you will proceed through the year… in other words, how you start is how you finish!

In her article, Elizabeth Scott defined self-care as "a multidimensional, multifaceted process of purposeful engagement in strategies that promote healthy functioning and enhance well-being," adding that “ the term describes a conscious act a person takes in order to promote their own physical, mental, and emotional health.” Self-care is unique and personal to each of us. We must take the time to acknowledge and practice those things that make our hearts happy. It’s more than self-care, I call it self-love!

Know Your Worth

Too frequently we quantify our worth with our ability to complete everything that needs to be done. Newsflash: there will always be another thing to accomplish! Just as soon as you’ve finished one list the next one is right on its trail. Instead, gauge your value on the quality of your work and the impact you have on those you serve. I’d much rather exist as a value-added educator who produces quality outcomes than a mediocre employee whose priority is to see how many tasks they can complete.

Your worth is internal. It is not tied to how many possessions you have, what title you hold, or what you’ve accomplished. You are more than what you do! Similarly, your worth does not decrease because of a shortcoming or personal failure. Knowing who you are innately means that you will be less likely to compromise your values when you feel pressured. What Does it Mean to Know Your Worth unpacks the why and the how of knowing your worth as the authors address the importance of understanding your singular value and not allowing others to define who you are.

Celebrate Small Victories

Learn to be your own cheerleader! While external accolades are appreciated, don’t rely on them to affirm who you are as an educator or a person. Take the time to pause, acknowledge, and celebrate small accomplishments. In the grand scheme of things, we can lose sight of the high points of a typical work day. Maybe you saw the academic growth in a student, or you totally crushed a professional development session with the staff, or you met a need for someone that made a difference for them.

Jenny Marchal expands on how to celebrate small wins and how this practice aids in achieving your goals. The ability to own small wins helps affirm who we are and the potential we have to do bigger and better things. By celebrating these minor victories we continuously remind ourselves who we are and the impact we have on others. For anyone working in a service industry like education, it is the many small wins that sustain us.

Find Your Tribe

Socialization is good for the soul. However, be mindful of the people you allow to occupy your space. According to a blog post titled The Importance of Finding your Tribe, “Maslow identified ‘the need to belong’ as one of the five basic human needs…. It is natural to want to be part of a group and to feel loved and accepted by others.” Your tribe is that group of people who support, encourage, and help you to grow. Having these social connections, a group of people who are there for us, can lead to improved well-being and happiness.

Our tribes are powerful because they remind us that we’re not alone – we have a support system and people who are genuinely rooting for us. It should also be noted that people in our tribe who support our growth are best positioned to celebrate us, stand with us in the difficult moments, and remind us who we are if and when we need to be reminded along the way.

As you begin this new year, remember that being intentional about your well-being is completely in your control. Make it a routine to prioritize how you are feeling. Use self-reflection to gauge your personal temperature. Be mindful of the importance of a healthy work-life balance and continuously monitor this alignment for any needed adjustments. When we take charge of our own well-being, we act as our personal advocates to navigate and ensure our wellness and resilience. In this way, we can bring the best versions of ourselves as we work with students, staff, and families.

Confronting Implicit Bias: How Are We Showing Up for ALL Students?

What do you see when you look at your students? 

It should come as no surprise that perception dictates the way we see and interact with others. In fact, the perception of others too frequently becomes an inequitable reality for students of color. The implicit bias of educators can impact a student’s academic, social, and behavioral achievement. Implicit bias refers to the unconscious beliefs, attitudes, and stereotypes that influence our perception as well as the expectations we have for students. Just the mere mention of the word “bias” can offend some people, which causes them to discount any further mention of the topic. 

Let’s be clear, we all have unconscious biases. The problem comes when we fail to acknowledge, examine, and confront our biases so that they don’t negatively impact students. In order to effectively work with diverse student populations, we must be intentional about developing intercultural competence. 

Most people operate in social networks that are similar to their ethnic makeup and socioeconomic class. This is problematic in that it isolates us from interacting with people who are different from us. The differences between people include culture and race, lived experiences, ways of operating in the world, and how we think about our realities. By not interacting with people who are different from us, we develop no true context for who diverse people are except for what we have heard from others, seen misrepresented in the media, or experienced through our own unconscious biased lens. 

Have you ever thought about why you like certain music, foods, or entertainment and have other personal preferences? Many of these preferences were passed down through your family and community and you have never challenged them or asked why. Each of us carries with us our beliefs and assumptions, which is only natural. But when educators’ assumptions are manifested as implicit biases, it can lead to imposed identities that inadvertently reinforce negative stereotypes and create negative school climates (Hanselman, Bruch, Gamoran, & Borman, 2014). In fact, teachers' hidden biases can often lead to reduced expectations for students of color (McKown & Weinstein, 2008). 

Let’s take a closer look to see how implicit bias can present itself in the educational setting. It’s the beginning of the school year, your classroom is ready, and you’ve just received your class roster. As you read through the student names you come across one that is especially familiar. You remember that last year this student, who was frequently sent to the office, was considered “challenging.” You’re already feeling the angst of what this student will bring to your classroom this year. Or, maybe you’re the teacher who gets uncomfortable because you don't feel it’s your responsibility to teach an English Language Learner (ELL) student, it will require additional work, and you didn’t sign up to be trained as an ELL teacher. In both of these examples, unchecked implicit bias can overshadow actions, decisions, and  interactions with students. Biased thinking in these cases, and so many others, limits an educator's ability to provide a successful interaction with students. 

Countless studies have demonstrated that Black boys are more likely than other students to receive discipline referrals and be expelled from school. Anyon et al. (2014) examined racial discipline inequity in their study The Persistent Effect of Race and the Promise of Alternatives to Suspension in School Discipline Outcomes. Findings indicated that two ways to keep students in the academic environment were in-school suspension and the implementation of restorative discipline approaches. In 2016, the Yale Child Study Center published a research study brief on educator implicit bias. The brief reiterated earlier findings that preschool Black children, particularly Black boys, are more likely than other students to be suspended and expelled for behaviors identified as “challenging.” The study used “eye-tracking” to determine that teachers tended to look longer at Black children, particularly boys, for challenging behaviors. This research supports the fact that implicit bias affects educational access and achievement in the classroom for certain groups. Sadly, not much has changed in today’s educational climate – the achievement gap remains constant and there doesn’t seem to be much emphasis placed on initiating change. 

So what can school administrators and teachers do to address implicit bias? 

1. Initiate the Dialogue

School administrators should be intentional about providing staff with the space to examine their own bias. It’s important to begin this conversation by looking at the ongoing discrepancies in outcomes between student groups. Is implicit bias a factor that affects student behaviors and achievement? Schools can be proactive by allocating time for staff to explore this issue through professional development (PD). Just like any other effective PD offering, the topic of implicit bias should be an ongoing conversation throughout the year. 

Project Implicit is a nonprofit organization that comprises an international collaborative of researchers whose mission is to educate the public about bias. To begin the conversation in schools, staff can use a tool such as Project Implicit’s Implicit Association Test (IAT). There are different IATs for participants to choose from and gain information regarding their attitudes and beliefs (e.g., religion, race, disability). Tools such as the IAT allow us to self-reflect, learn more about how we see others, and ultimately show up better for all of our students. Even if your school isn’t ready to have this conversation, you can begin this important work yourself.

1. Relationships before Rigor

Teachers should be intentional about getting to know their students. For me, building relationships with students happens at the very beginning of the school year. I’m a firm believer that “before you can teach them, you have to reach them,” which comes through establishing authentic relationships. This includes learning who your students are, what they like, how they learn best, and what is important to them. You can also learn as much from students as they can learn from you. Dr. Manny Scott, one of the original Freedom Writers, refers to this as being “a student of your students.” The information you learn about your students is the most effective way to build a solid foundation from which to grow. 

Teachers can integrate what they’ve learned about their students to modify content to better engage students, curate inclusive resources that represent the diversity of students, and build meaningful personalized learning experiences. Understood.org is a social impact, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping those who learn and think differently thrive. A research-based article on their website, Building Positive Relationships with Students: What Brain Science Says, unpacks four reasons why student-teacher relationships are important: (1) to build motivation, (2) to create safe spaces for learning, (3) to build new pathways for learning, and (4) to improve student behavior. It must be noted that relationships and effective management will be your two greatest investments with students; however, they will not alleviate all discipline problems.

1. Cultivate an Inclusive Learning Space

Unlock and appreciate the power of student voice by encouraging student input when creating your class culture. When you think about the amount of time students spend in their classrooms, it becomes paramount to include student voice in informing the design of the classroom, creating the rules/agreements, and developing consequences that students believe are appropriate as they align with schoolwide discipline expectations. As an article titled Student Voice: A Growing Movement within Education that Benefits Students and Teachers from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center of Transition Innovations explains: 

Instead of a top down, teacher-directed approach to learning, [student voice ensures that] students play an active and equal role in planning, learning, and leading their classroom instruction as well as contributing to the development of school practices and policies. This significant philosophical shift requires all stakeholders to embrace the belief that there is something to learn from every individual regardless of age, culture, socioeconomic status, or other qualifying factors.

All students should be part of the collective conversation to build the framework that undergirds the operation of the classroom. The culture created in the classroom should be inclusive. It can either be one that motivates and inspires endless possibilities for all students or it can be an isolating and stifling reality that some must endure – the choice is yours. 

1. Parents as Partners

Engaging families is key. Parents really are an educator’s best ally and building these relationships are essential in two major ways: (1) you learn more about families as well as their culture, values, and their needs, and (2) together you create a network of support to further understand the value of partnership. When students understand that their teachers and parents are partnered and communicate frequently, they are more likely to put forth their best effort. Implicit bias would have us believe that certain parents are unavailable, unconcerned, and inadequate when it comes to their child’s education. While this may be true in a few cases, we have to dispel preconceived notions about parental engagement. For example, a parent who doesn’t attend school events may have work hours that don’t align with school programs. ​​

Studies have shown that parental engagement has a significant, positive relationship with children’s academic achievement (e.g., Jeynes, 2016; Jeynes, 2012, Sheldon & Epstein, 2004; Wilder, 2014). When students know that their teacher cares enough to connect with the people who love them, an environment that mutually benefits both teacher and student has been created. Simply put, family engagement is a game changer! 

How to Engage Families

To begin this process, teachers can connect with parents prior to the start of the school year. Introduce yourself to the families and let them know up front that you want to be a team. Let them know that you expect to have a great year and that your goal is the same as the one that they have for their child:  a happy classroom environment where students feel safe, learn, and accomplish great things. To ensure that you can reach parents directly, it's best to understand the form of communication that works best for each family offering various modes as a one-size-fits-all approach is ineffective in today’s media rich culture. While newsletters and communication through educational platforms (like Seesaw) are sufficient, I’ve found that parents appreciate a more personal touch. Tried-and-true methods of communication such as phone calls and handwritten notes are, from time to time, appreciated by parents. 

Similarly, initiating parent meetings, whether in person or virtual, also allows parents the chance to interact with and learn more about the person they’ve entrusted their child to for the year. Building these partnerships with families will help you learn much about your students' lives, cultures, and who they are as individuals. 

If the aim of public school education is to provide equitable access to programs and services, improve academic outcomes for all students and prepare them to be future ready, then we must examine our attitudes and beliefs so they don’t have detrimental effects on our students. Will your perception of your students help or hinder them? 

To minimize implicit bias in our roles as educators and humans, it’s important to confront our own biases. Remember as educators we possess the power to impact the future by how we handle the present (our students). What do you see when you look at your students? Do you see doctors, lawyers, educators, or problems? 

If you are an educator and want to understand more about uncovering Implicit Bias and how to show up better for all students, look out for my upcoming Learning Community on this topic!