Case Studies: Overview | Boston | Chicago | Cincinnati | Philadelphia
In 2000-2001, Education Resource Strategies (ERS) examined district spending and activities related to professional development. At the time, the district was four years into implementing Student First, a strategic plan for improving student performance. The strategy had four critical components: (1) Defining high academic standards and creating accountability for meeting them; (2) Decentralizing responsibility for decision-making about instructional practice and the use of time and resources to school and teacher teams; (3) Requiring schools to implement a Comprehensive School Reform design and utilize research-based curriculum and instructional strategies; (4) Reorganizing district's resources to provide professional development around each teacher's professional growth needs and each school's unique development strategy.
ERS reviewed activities based on:
- How the activities aligned with the Student First Strategy described above
- How each activity matched up to the National Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching (NPEAT) principles of professional development
ERS' full report provides an overview of the analysis' findings, recommendations, and outcomes. This case study page is a synthesis of information made available in this report and on the ERS website.
Findings
The findings listed below are explained in more detail on pages 12-33 of the full report.
- In 2000-2001, the Cincinnati Public Schools planned to spend significant funds on professional development for principals and teachers: $10.1 million or 2.5% of its total budget.
- District professional development did not focus on improving instruction in academic content areas.
- CPS was investing more than $6 million or about 60% of all professional development dollars to provide teacher coaching and instructional support at the school site, but the efforts were not integrated into an overarching multi-year strategy.
- CPS relied heavily on the use of external funds to pay for professional development on topics other than teacher leadership and career growth.
- CPS invested heavily in creating release time for teacher leaders, but less than other districts to create professional development time for other teachers to participate in school based improvement efforts.
Recommendations
ERS recommended that the district develop a more integrated, instructionally focused coaching program linked to student performance at the school level and create a system of school-level accountability for ensuring that professional development met the district's standards. Specifically, CPS would need to:
- Invest district resources in school-based instructional coaching.
- Create school level accountability for high quality professional development.
- Create more professional development time for teacher teams.
- Revitalize the Mayerson strategy (The Mayerson Academy offers free courses for teachers).
These recommendations are explained in more detail on pages 34-42 of the full report.
CPS has made a significant investment in professional development spending since 2000, nearly doubling spending in the K-12 operating budget. Although CPS has increased spending significantly, spending could still be more strategically aligned to district priorities. In response, ERS led three action teams focused on coaching, principal support, and whole school improvement. The work resulted in:
- A district coaching and mentoring model that uses the expertise of master teachers
- External coaching support to develop teacher leadership within schools
- Drafts defining the needs of principals throughout their careers
- A comprehensive school planning template One Plan that revolves around a clear set of standards and serves as a school-level accountability and planning tool. The One Plan template informed the final version and structure of Cincinnati's whole-school improvement strategy.
- School performance standards and rubrics for evaluating progress against standards.