“The resources available through Gale eBooks: Professional Learning help our teachers meet their professional goals as well as better meet the needs of every student they support.”
–Bessie Criscione, Supervisor of Professional Development, Alachua County Public School District, Gainesville, FL
While teachers’ continuing education is often referred to as (PD) or continuing professional development (CPD), educators are beginning to see a transition from development to professional learning. What’s the difference? For many, professional development can be a passive process. Teachers read a book over the summer and then attend a handful of general staff development days throughout the school year. This makes it more challenging to understand how everything connects. Professional learning, on the other hand, provides an on-demand experience that is personalized to the individual educator. The ability to work toward district goals while managing their own learning paths helps teachers feel more invested in the process.
In the case of Gale eBooks: Professional Learning, there are more than 50 collections—including those from ASCD, Corwin Press, ISTE, and Solution Tree. They address topics such as differentiation, supporting all students, culturally responsive teaching, social and emotional learning, and high-quality literacy instruction. Plus, schools now have the option to upgrade many of their CPD collections by adding alignments to the Danielson Framework for Teaching or the Marzano Focused Teacher Evaluation Model.
Educators can share via social media and email, and group studies no longer require the purchase of individual books for participants. Instead, stakeholders can access the same book, even simultaneously, at no extra charge. Materials are easily searchable, and content can be translated into more than 40 languages. Read the case study of Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) to see how teachers are embracing these collections and training to become more effective communicators with all of the students they are teaching.
The 4 Pillars of Effective Professional Development
While every school district would undoubtedly attest to the importance of continuing professional development (CPD), the fact remains that teacher development days are few and far between. One of the reasons that districts like ACPS’s are successful is because they follow four distinct professional development opportunities:
1. Make it personalized. Help teachers find what they need, when they need it.
2. Embed it with the job. Support continuing professional development (CPD) by ensuring that educators keep learning.
3. Keep it sustainable. Regularly communicate with faculty and sustain focus on educational goals.
4. Tie it to evaluations. Improve the potential for student success by following through with teachers.
