DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Professional Standards Board

FINAL

1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards

I. SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE AND INFORMATION SUBMITTED

The Professional Standards Board, acting in cooperation and consultation with the Department of Education, seeks the consent of the State Board of Education to amend 14 DE Admin. Code 1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards. This regulation sets forth the standards for Delaware educators’ professional development. Delaware professional development standards would reflect Learning Forward’s recently adopted professional learning standards.

Notice of the proposed amendment of the regulation was published in the Delaware Register of Regulations on February 1, 2012. The notice invited written comments. Comments were received from The Governor’s Advisory Council for Exceptional Citizens and the State Council for Persons with Disabilities. Several grammatical edits were noted and subsequently made. Additional grammatical suggestions were made, but as these were within sections of the regulation that were direct quotes from Learning Forward’s Standards for Professional Learning, it would be inappropriate to alter the content.

II. FINDINGS OF FACTS

The Professional Standards Board and the State Board of Education find that it is appropriate to amend this regulation to comply with changes in statute.

III. DECISION TO AMEND THE REGULATION

For the foregoing reasons, the Professional Standards Board and the State Board of Education conclude that it is appropriate to amend the regulation. Therefore, pursuant to 14 Del.C. §1205(b), the regulation attached hereto as Exhibit “A” is hereby amended. Pursuant to the provision of 14 Del.C. §122(e), the regulation hereby amended shall be in effect for a period of five years from the effective date of this order as set forth in Section V. below.

IV. TEXT AND CITATION

The text of the regulation amended shall be in the form attached hereto as Exhibit “A”, and said regulation shall be cited as 14 DE Admin. Code 1598 of the Administrative Code of Regulations of the Department of Education.

V. EFFECTIVE DATE OF ORDER

The effective date of this Order shall be ten (10) days from the date this Order is published in the Delaware Register of Regulations.

APPROVED BY THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS BOARD

THE 3rd DAY OF APRIL, 2012

IT IS SO ORDERED the 19 th day of April, 2012.

Department of Education

Lillian M. Lowery, Ed.D., Secretary of Education

Approved this 19th day of April, 2012

State Board of Education

1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards

1.1 Learning Forward, formerly known as Tthe National Staff Development Counc[ei]l (NSDC, 2001), adopted updated Standards for Staff Development Professional Learning that connect professional development learning and student learning. and The standards acknowledge that all educators have a responsibility to learn in order to improve student performance.

1.2 In accordance with 14 Del.C. §1205(b), the NSDC 2001 Standards For Professional Learning (Learning Forward, 2011) are hereby incorporated by reference and adopted as Delaware's Professional Development sStandards. The NSDC Learning Forward’s Standards shall serve as the foundation for professional development for all Delaware educators, and as indicators that guide the learning, facilitation, implementation, and evaluation of professional learning. The standards make explicit that the purpose of professional development is for educators to develop the knowledge, skills, practices, and dispositions they need to help students perform at higher levels.

1.3 A summary of the Standards [are is] set forth within. In-depth descriptions, contextual explanations, examples and more specific criteria and guidance [is are] provided in the complete set of standards as published in Standards For Professional Learning (Learning Forward, 2011).

2.1 Professional Development that improves the learning of all students:

2.1.1 Organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district.

2.1.2 Requires skillful school and district leaders who guide continuous instructional improvement.

2.1.3 Requires resources to support adult learning and collaboration.

2.1 The following prerequisites are fundamental, necessary for effective learning, and reside where professional learning intersects with professional ethics:

2.2 An Educator’s commitment to all students is the foundation of effective professional learning.

2.3 Each educator involved in professional learning comes to the experience ready to learn.

2.4 Because there are disparate experience levels and use of practice among educators, professional learning can foster collaborative inquiry and learning that enhances individual and collective performance.

2.5 Like all learners, educators learn in different ways and at different rates.

3.1 Professional Development that improves the learning of all students:

3.1.1 Uses disaggregated student data to determine adult learning priorities, monitor progress, and help sustain continuous improvement.

3.1.2 Uses multiple sources of information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impacts.

3.1.3 Prepares educators to apply research to decision making.

3.1.4 Uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal.

3.1.5 Applies knowledge about human learning and change.

3.1.6 Provides educators with the knowledge and skills to collaborate.

3.1 Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students occurs within learning communities committed to continuous improvement, collective responsibility, and goal alignment.

3.2 Professional learning within communities requires continuous improvement, promotes collective responsibility, and supports alignment of individual, team, school, and school system goals.

3.3 Learning communities convene regularly and frequently during the workday to engage in collaborative professional learning to strengthen their practice and increase student results.

3.4 Learning community members are accountable to one another to achieve the shared goals of the school and school system and work in transparent, authentic settings that support their improvement.

4.1 Professional Development that improves the learning of all students:

4.1.1 Prepares educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly, and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement.

4.1.2 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.

4.1.3 Provides educators with knowledge and skills to involve families and other stakeholders appropriately.

4.1 Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students requires skillful leaders who develop capacity, advocate, and create support systems for professional learning.

4.2 Leaders throughout the pre-K-12 education community recognize effective professional learning as a key strategy for supporting significant school and school system improvements to increase results for all students.

4.3 Whether they lead from classrooms, schools, school systems, technical assistance agencies, professional associations, universities, or public agencies, leaders develop their own and others' capacity to learn and lead professional learning, advocate for professional learning, provide support systems, and distribute leadership and responsibility for professional learning effectiveness and results.

5.1 Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students requires prioritizing, monitoring, and coordinating resources for educator learning.

5.2 Effective professional learning requires human, fiscal, material, technology, and time resources to achieve student learning goals.

5.3 How resources are allocated for professional learning can overcome inequities and achieve results for educators and students. The availability and allocation of resources for professional learning affect its quality and results.

5.4 Understanding the resources associated with professional learning and actively and accurately tracking them facilitates better decisions about and increased quality and results of professional learning.

6.1 Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students uses a variety of sources and types of student, educator, and system data to plan, assess, and evaluate professional learning.

6.2 Data from multiple sources enrich decisions about professional learning that leads to increased results for every student. Multiple sources include both quantitative and qualitative data, such as common formative and summative assessments, performance assessments, observations, work samples, performance metrics, portfolios, and self-reports.

6.3 The use of multiple sources of data offers a balanced and more comprehensive analysis of student, educator, and system performance than any single type or source of data can.

6.4 Thorough analysis and ongoing use are essential for data to inform decisions about professional learning, as is support in the effective analysis and use of data.

7.1 Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students integrates theories, research, and models of human learning to achieve its intended outcomes.

7.2 Integrating theories, research, and models of human learning into the planning and design of professional learning contributes to its effectiveness.

7.3 Several factors influence decisions about learning designs, including the goals of the learning, characteristics of the learners, their comfort with the learning process and one another, their familiarity with the content, the magnitude of the expected change, educators' work environment, and resources available to support learning.

7.4 The design of professional learning affects its quality and effectiveness.

8.1 Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students applies research on change and sustains support for implementation of professional learning for long-term change.

8.2 The primary goals for professional learning are changes in educator practice and increases in student learning. The process occurs over time and requires support for implementation to embed the new learning into practices.

8.3 Effective professional learning is achieved by applying findings from change process research to support long-term change in practice by extending learning over time.

8.4 Effective professional learning integrates a variety of supports for individuals, teams, and schools.

8.5 Constructive feedback and reflection should be integrated in implementation to support continuous improvement in practice that allows educators to move along a continuum from novice to expert through application of their professional learning.

9.1 Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students aligns its outcomes with educator performance and student curriculum standards.

9.2 For all students to learn, educators and professional learning must be held to high standards.

9.3 Professional learning that increases results for all students addresses the learning outcomes and performance expectations education systems designate for students and educators.

9.4 When the content of professional learning integrates student curriculum and educator performance standards, the link between educator learning and student learning becomes explicit, increasing the likelihood that professional learning contributes to increased student learning.

9.5 When systems increase the stakes for students by demanding high, equitable outcomes, the stakes for professional learning increase as well.