WASHINGTON
Teachers need more opportunities for high-quality professional development to improve learning outcomes, raise test scores and close the achievement gap, said a group of researchers during a press conference hosted by the National Staff Development Council Wednesday.
Many teachers receive professional development that is episodic and disconnected from real problems and practice, said Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommon Professor of Teaching and Teacher Education at Stanford University.
“But research tells us that teachers need to learn the way other professionals do: continually, collaboratively and on the job,” said Darling-Hammond, who was considered a possible U.S. secretary of state and serves on President Barack Obama’s transition team.
In her new report, Darling-Hammond highlights inadequacies in professional development facing the nation’s teachers and offers recommendations that she says may advance student-learning outcomes.
In 2003, nearly 60 percent of teachers said they had received no more than 16 hours of professional development opportunities, according to the Schools and Staffing Survey, a survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics; less than 25 percent reported that they had at least 33 hours of professional development. Darling-Hammond’s report recommends teachers receive about 50 hours of training annually.
