Professional Development

Professional Development Options 
(One Size DOESN'T Fit All...)

What professional development options does your program offer, or what options do you think it should offer? There are infinite options, of course. And no one "correct" answer. It's something your planning team will have to decide... But where to start? One way to start is to see what others are doing. Take Harris County Department of Education (HCDE), for example. While their model may not suit your program exactly, they offer a variety of options to meeting different teachers' needs. Take a look at these options below...

Some staff training is mandatory such as TABE and BEST Training. Data collection for ACES is mandatory. With input from those who are required to attend mandatory training, the schedule of training includes weekday evenings and Saturday meeting times that meet the schedules of participants.

HCDE has elective inservice training sessions planned by the committee. This allows teachers to choose from a variety of topics to accommodate the general needs expressed by participants. After the professional development planning committee determines the needs, topics are presented in the following ways:

• Selected from the list provided by the professional development consortium. The senior manager contacts the members of the professional development consortium and explains the needs and sessions are customized to meet the more specific needs. Then the senior manager and the various members of the consortium decide on the presentations in light of the needs.
• Professional Development Video presentations. Presented with a facilitator from HCDE. Examples of specialized topics may include working with learning disabled students, ESL students, or the corrections population.
• Teachers Training Teachers. Teachers who have successfully dealt with a particular topic or issue are asked to present their methods.
• Project IDEA. Teachers who have participated in Project IDEA share their expertise with teachers by sharing the issue and topic they studied or developed with Project IDEA.
• Special Guest presentations. HCDE may invite elected officials, other agency representatives, or the local workforce development board members to talk about adult education's role in partnerships and to get input from teachers.

For teachers who prefer to maintain a personal portfolio, a menu of options for the portfolio are:

1. The Reading Club: Practitioners read a professional publication (book, article, journal, etc.) about a particular topic and come together to analyze the topic. If the teacher is solo, a review sheet is completed. Materials are available at the learning center in the professional development room.
2. Materials Group: Practitioners come together to review classroom materials and evaluate them. Materials are identified and discussed.
3. Peer Observation. Teachers observe other teachers and share, discuss, and plan.
4. Teacher Inquiry Group: Teachers develop questions that they are interested in investigating inside and outside of the classroom. Teachers spend time researching the questions posed and meet to discuss the findings.
5. Field Trip Group: Staff members identify classes that they want to visit and arrange visits/observations.
6. Curriculum Development Group: Staff members establish small groups to develop worksheets and activities for classroom use.
7. Tape Viewing Group: Staff members meet in small groups or individually to view professional development tapes and have discussion.

The Gulf Coast Adult Education Professional Development Collaborative is a local effort to provide training across the cooperatives in the Gulf Coast area. HCDE collaborates with other literacy providers in the service area to provide professional development training under the umbrella of the HCDE staff development program. This collaboration will help to establish new instructor proficiencies and provide trainers and participants for the Teacher Training Institute in Houston.

Conferences, TETN broadcasts, and Institutes are other ways that teachers and staff receive professional development.

Joanie Rethlake is Senior Manager at Harris County Department of Education and is the current president of the Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education (TALAE). She is actively involved in professional development planning.