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Making Time for PD

NCREL. Critical issue: Finding the time for professional development. http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/profdevl/pd300.htm

This paper from NCREL, the North Central Regional Education Laboratory, explores how to carve out time, opportunity and the other resources teachers need to engage with professional development.

Suggestions include:

  • using technology
  • embedding professional development in the daily lives of teachers
  • restructuring teachers' work to create the mental space necessary for ongoing professional development
  • assessing how current resources are being used
  • designing strategies for securing additional resources or reallocating current resources
  • developing strategies to convince the public and policy-makers that professional development is as much a part of teachers' work as classroom instruction.

Action options and case studies from schools are provided.