DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Professional Standards Board

FINAL

ORDER

1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards

I. SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE AND INFORMATION SUBMITTED

Pursuant to 14 Del.C. §§1203 and 1205(b), the Professional Standards Board, acting in consultation and cooperation with the Delaware Department of Education ("Department"), proposes to repeal 14 DE Admin. Code 1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards. The Department proposes to adopt a new regulation, 14 DE Admin. Code 288 Standards for Professional Learning, which sets forth the professional learning standards for educators in Delaware public schools, how the standards are applied, and how the standards are enforced.

Notice of the proposed regulation was published in the Register of Regulations on June 1, 2024. The Professional Standards Board received a written submittal from Ann C. Fisher, Chairperson of the Governor's Advisory Council for Exceptional Citizens ("GACEC"). GACEC commented that proposed regulation 14 DE Admin. Code 288 could be amended to explicitly include disability and ableism.

II. ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT ON ACHIEVEMENT OF THE STATE'S GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS REDUCTION TARGETS AND RESILIENCY TO CLIMATE CHANGE

The Secretary of Education has reviewed the proposed regulation as required by 29 Del.C. §10118(b)(3) and has determined that any assessment of the impact of the proposed regulation is not practical.

III. FINDINGS OF FACTS

On August 1, 2024, the Professional Standards Board considered GACEC's comment and determined not to make any changes as a result of the comment. The Professional Standards Board found that proposed regulation 14 DE Admin. Code 288 is a Department regulation and the comment provided a suggestion for the Department. The Professional Standards Board voted to propose 14 DE Admin. Code 1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards, in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A, for repeal by the Department subject to the State Board of Education's approval.

The Department finds that it has proposed to adopt a new regulation, 14 DE Admin. Code 288 Standards for Professional Learning, which sets forth the professional learning standards for educators in Delaware public schools, how the standards are applied, and how the standards are enforced. Accordingly, the Department finds that it is appropriate to repeal 14 DE Admin. Code 1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards.

IV. DECISION TO REPEAL THE REGULATION

For the foregoing reasons, the Department concludes that it is appropriate to repeal 14 DE Admin. Code 1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards subject to the State Board of Education's approval. On August 15, 2024, the State Board of Education approved repealing 14 DE Admin. Code 1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards. Therefore, pursuant to 14 Del.C. §§1203 and 1205(b), 14 DE Admin. Code 1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards, attached hereto as Exhibit A, is hereby repealed.

V. TEXT AND CITATION

The text of 14 DE Admin. Code 1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards repealed hereby shall be in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A and said regulation shall be cited as 14 DE Admin. Code 1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards in the Administrative Code of Regulations for the Department.

VI. EFFECTIVE DATE OF ORDER

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

IT IS SO ORDERED the 15th day of August, 2024.

Department of Education

Mark A. Holodick, Ed.D., Secretary of Education

Approved this 15th day of August, 2024.

State Board of Education

*Please note: Electronic signatures ("/s/") were accepted pursuant to 6 Del.C. §12A-107(d).

1598 Delaware Professional Development Standards

1.1 Learning Forward, formerly known as the National Staff Development Council, adopted updated Standards for Professional Learning that connect professional learning and student learning. 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 Standards For Professional Learning (Learning Forward, 2011) are hereby incorporated by reference and adopted as Delaware's Professional Development Standards. 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 is set forth within. In-depth descriptions, contextual explanations, examples and more specific criteria and guidance are provided in the complete set of standards as published in Standards For Professional Learning (Learning Forward, 2011).

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 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 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.