Professional Development Model of the TEAL Center

A primary focus of the TEAL Center is to bridge research to practice and help adult educators value research and use it to improve practice. This involves disseminating information to adult educators in an effective, user-friendly manner. It involves creating professional development (PD) materials that explain research findings (what) and their importance to improved student outcomes (why), model ways to apply the strategies to content and provide opportunities for practice and feedback (how), and identify the audience for the instructional strategies in terms of educational functioning level (who).

How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice[i] posits four research-based principles of learning environments that optimize learning and move students from knowledge acquisition (initial learning) to knowledge application (performing meaningful tasks to build understanding) to knowledge generation(applying the learning to new contexts, thereby creating new knowledge or identifying gaps in knowledge). The principles hold that instructional materials and strategies must be learner centered, knowledge centered, assessment centered, and community centered.

For materials and strategies to be learner centered means that they must acknowledge, appreciate, reflect, and build on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that learners bring into the classroom[ii]. To be knowledge centered means employing strategies that support learning with understanding so that learners learn not only what is taught (content), but also why it is taught (understanding). Learners also must be taught metacognitive strategies to facilitate future learning (how). To be formative assessment centered means that instructors and learners alike can monitor progress. Learners have opportunities to revise and improve their thinking[iii]and see their progress over time; they also help instructors identify problems that need to be remediated and design instruction accordingly. To be community centeredmeansthatthe environment and teaching/learning activities are designed to promote collaborative problem solving among learners andhelp build a sense of affiliation and community among learners.

The Eisenhower Professional Development research study[iv] reflects the principles of How People Learn in the identification ofcharacteristics of effective professional development for instructors. These includethe following:

  • Focusing on specific content, which enhances instructors’ knowledge. This reflects the knowledge-centeredprinciple of How People Learn.
  • Providing instructors with opportunities for active learning, e.g., the chance to use ideas in their own classrooms, thereby applying learning to practice, and
  • Continuing activities over an extended period of timeto provide participants with the duration and intensity needed to actively learn and become confident in the practices. The above two characteristics reflect thelearner-centeredprincipleofHow People Learn.
  • Providing opportunities for collective participation, or collaboration, that encourage participants to share ideas and challenges and learn from one another;this results in a deeper understanding of the concepts and facilitatesthe development of a community of learners, and
  • Creating a sense of coherence so that the learning is consistent with teachers’ goals and aligned with state and national standards, assessments, and initiatives, such as STAR and Standards in Action.

The above two characteristics reflect the community-centered principle of How People Learn.

Following is a graphic representation of the model that the TEAL Center will use in its design and delivery of professional development. The model incorporates the four principles from How People Learn as well as the characteristics of effective PD from the Eisenhower Study.

The TEAL Center Model for the Design and Delivery of Professional Development

[i]Donovan, S., Bransford, J., & Pellegrino, J. (1999). How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; See also Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

[ii] Duckworth, E. (1987). “The Having of Wonderful Ideas” and other essays on teaching and learning. New York: Teachers College Press.

[iii] Vye, N.J., Schwartz, D., Bransford, J., Barron, B., Zech, L. (1998). SMART environments that support monitoring, reflection, and revision. In Metacognition in Educational Theory and Practice. D. Hacker, J. Dunlosky, and A. Graessner, eds. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

[iv] Desimone, L., Porter, A. C., Garet, M. S., Yoon, K. S., & Birman, B. F. (2002). Effects of professional development on teachers’ instruction: Results from a three-year longitudinal study. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 24, 81–112; Garet, M. S., Porter, A. C., Desimone, L., Birman, B. F., & Yoon, K. S. (2001). What makes professional development effective? Results from a national sample of teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 38, 915–945.