BUILDING AWARENESS THROUGH SELF-ASSESSMENT

By Dale Hair, Ed.S.

Using Four of the NSDC Standards of Staff Development for Assessing Your School's Professional Development

A Modified, Shortened Version of the National Staff Development Council's (NSDC) Standards for Staff Development Self-Assessment Instrument developed by Dale Hair, Ed.S.

Definition of Rubric Terms

Use the following indicators to assess your school's progress in meeting each of the staff development standards on the self-assessment rubric that follows.

Not Addressed:

At this time, this standard has not been addressed.
No evidence that would verify a beginning level of implementation.

Beginning:

Making initial steps, such as gathering information, analyzing data, and organizing resources to address this standard, and
Arranging schedules, allotting time, and beginning to implement the standard on a limited basis. This is defined as at least 20% of the teachers at the school addressing the standard as a part of their regular (daily, weekly) practice.

Basic:

Implementing this standard on a more wide-spread basis. This is defined as at least 60% of the teachers throughout the school who address the standard as a part of their regular (daily, weekly) practice, and
Implementing this standard with great understanding and proficiency by a core group of experts within the school. A "core group of experts" is defined as at least 20% of the teachers who regularly demonstrate this standard at a level that could serve as a model for others and who could provide training and/or coaching to others working to meet the standard.

Proficient:

Implementing this standard in-depth, with great understanding and proficiency, by at least 80% of the teachers within the school, and
Beginning to show linkage between implementation of this standard and improved student achievement using a variety of assessments.

Exemplary: All of the following

Implementing this standard at a highly proficient level on a routine basis throughout the school.
Using data from ongoing student assessments to continuously modify and improve decisions and actions that address this standard.
Assimilating this standard into the "culture of the school" so that newly-hired personnel develop the capacity (knowledge, skills, and dispositions) to meet the standard with their colleagues. The "culture of the school" is defined as the common values and beliefs of a group that are so deeply embedded that group members routinely act in accordance with them and automatically assimilate newcomers into their belief system.

NOTE: The scale on this instrument has been modified from the National Staff Development Council's original 6-point agree-disagree scale listed in the back of the NSDC Standards for Staff Development - Revised, 2001. In this modified version, a 5-point scale indicating level of implementation of the standards appears in a rubric form. The purpose for this change is to assist schools in determining specific areas of staff development that are ready for dissemination as "best practices."

Staff Development Self-Assessment Rubric
Focusing on Four Standards
(Adapted from the Self-Assessment of Implementation of NSDC Standards of Staff Development)

School: ________________

Contact Person: _______________

DATA-DRIVEN: Staff development that improves the learning of all students uses disaggregated student data to determine adult learning priorities, monitor progress, and help sustain continuous improvement.
Evidences:	Not Addressed	Beginning	Basic	Proficient	Exemplary
1. In this school, data on student learning provide focus for staff development efforts.	0	1	2	3	4
2. In this school, teachers gather evidence of improvements in student learning in their classrooms to determine the effects of their staff development on their students.	0	1	2	3	4
3. In this school, data are disaggregated to ensure equitable treatment of all subgroups of students.	0	1	2	3	4

RESEARCH-BASED: Staff development that improves the learning of all students prepares educators to apply research to decision making.
Evidences:	Not Addressed	Beginning	Basic	Proficient	Exemplary
4. In this school, staff development prepares educators to be skillful users of educational research.	0	1	2	3	4
5. In this school, teams of teachers and administrators methodically study research before adopting improvement strategies.	0	1	2	3	4
6. In this school, pilot studies and action research are used when appropriate to test the effectiveness of new approaches when research is contradictory or does not exist.	0	1	2	3	4

QUALITY TEACHING: Staff development that improves the learning of all students 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.
Evidences:	Not Addressed	Beginning	Basic	Proficient	Exemplary
7. In this school, teachers have many opportunities to develop deep knowledge of their content.	0	1	2	3	4
8. In this school, staff development expands teachers' instructional methods appropriate to specific content areas.	0	1	2	3	4
9. In this school, staff development teaches classroom assessment skills that allow teachers to regularly monitor gains in student learning.	0	1	2	3	4

LEARNING COMMUNITIES: Staff development that improves the learning of all students organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district.
Evidences:	Not Addressed	Beginning	Basic	Proficient	Exemplary
10. In this school, small learning teams are a primary component of the staff development plan.	0	1	2	3	4
11. In this school, all teachers are part of ongoing, school-based learning teams that meet several times a week to plan instruction, examine student work, and/or solve problems.	0	1	2	3	4
12. In this school, faculties and learning teams focus on school and district goals.	0	1	2	3	4

DIRECTIONS: Use the summary below to record your scores for the evidences under each standard. Average your scores, rounding off to the nearest tenth, to determine an overall score for the entire standard.

PROCESS STANDARD:	PROCESS STANDARD:
Data-Driven 1. ________ 2. ________ 3. ________ Average: ________	Research-Based 4. ________ 5. ________ 6. ________ Average: ________
CONTENT STANDARD:	CONTEXT STANDARD:
Quality Teaching 7. ________ 8. ________ 9. ________ Average: ________	Learning Communities 10. _______ 11. _______ 12. _______ Average: ________

Determination of Strengths/Needs

Which overall standards are strongest for your school? _______________

Which are challenge areas? _________________________________

Using These Standards to Improve Your School's Professional Development:

1. Begin with the standard on "Data-Driven." What student achievement data does your school have? Consider both standardized tests and informal assessments that measure student performance in relation to content standards (math, language arts, social studies, science, etc.). Examine student work. Specifically where are your students having problems meeting the standards? Set some targeted goals for what you would like to see students achieve by a certain date.

2. Look at the standard on "Research-Based." What research-based programs or processes do teachers need to use to help students? What evidence do you have that the programs or processes have a track record of success in achieving positive student results? How can you find out if a program or process is "research-based?" Helping teachers acquire the knowledge and skills to implement these should drive your staff development. Don't forget about simple processes, such as studying and sharing lessons that you have found to be successful in teaching those skill areas, or observing each other teach such lessons.

3. Look at the standard on "Quality Teaching." Do teachers at this school have a deep understanding of the content they teach? Do they have a deep understanding of research-based strategies for teaching the content to students similar to those in your school? Do teachers know how to appropriately assess student growth using a variety of assessment strategies (rubrics, teacher observation checklists, running records, etc.)

4. Finally, look at the standard on "Learning Communities." What opportunities do teachers have to work collaboratively, sharing ideas for improving teaching and learning? How can schedules be arranged to provide time within the school day? How do you assure that teacher collaboration time is focused on improving teaching and learning rather than administrative tasks? How are the leadership skills of all teachers being used to create a learning environment for faculty as well as students? Not all staff development is workshops; and even good workshops need collaborative follow-up to ensure classroom implementation.

5. Continue this process by returning to number one and reassessing student data. Where are you seeing progress? Begin with a limited number of student achievement goals so that you will foster a spirit of success.

6. What additional information or resources do you need to get started?Action Plan for

_____________________________________________
(Name of school)

Name of Principal: _______________________________

Directions: Use the space below to record your thoughts and possible action steps to address the questions on the previous page. Continue on the back if needed.

Data Driven:

Research-Based Programs and Processes:

Quality Teaching:

Learning Communities: