Potentials and Challenges of a Situated Professional Development Model

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to describe a statewide professional development program designed to improve teachers' knowledge and practices around formative assessment. The authors describe three key characteristics that guided the program design: (1) providing a framework for formative assessment; (2) providing opportunities for flexible implementation; and (3) providing support for capacity development. The chapter provides examples of the ways the program was instantiated at the local level, discusses the potentials and challenges related to the professional development implementation, and illustrates connections to teacher learning about formative assessment. The authors provide recommendations that may help individuals who design and deliver professional development that balance large-scale program expectations (e.g., state-level) with local and situated contexts of implementation. General implications for the design and enactment of situated professional development models are also described.

Enactment of Ongoing Formative Assessment: Challenges and Opportunities for Professional Development and Practice

“…In these teams, teachers learned about and discussed the nuances of FA and supported one another in implementing these practices in their classrooms. See Kintz et al (2015) and Cisterna et al (2016) for more information about the PD model and features.…”

“…First, developers need to make sure that FA is organized as a connected and coherent process instead of piecemeal practices that are enacted in isolation. In our previous research (Cisterna et al, 2016) we saw that many teachers tend to focus their initial learning about FA on learning target use but then struggle to connect other aspects of FA in a seamless manner. Therefore, it is important that PD includes activities and representations that help teachers understand how and when the elicitation of students' ideas is needed and how to make instructional adjustments based on evidence of student learning and learning targets.…”