Improving Teachers' Professional Development

Nov 26, 2018, 12:57 PM

(from EdWeek) A partnership between three independent schools and three universities laid the foundation for the AP tests used widely today. Collaboration between higher ed and K-12 education has been less robust in the meantime, according to educational researcher Ethan Ake-Little. Higher ed could learn from K-12 schools' emphasis on teaching, whereas K-12 schools could learn from universities' emphasis on professionalism, he argues. Many teachers find professional development to be ineffective. One suggestion is to train teachers to consume research on pedagogy and integrate it into their classroom practices. This could help position teachers as self-governing professionals who possess highly specialized knowledge. The K-12 tenure process could be reformed to be more skill-centric rather than a pro forma administrative process.