Professional Teacher Standards and Collaborative Professional Development Plans

Video Transcription

Hello there and welcome. We should all be familiar with the professional teacher standards. And in this lesson, we will analyze the role they play in collaborative professional development. Let's begin.

Any stakeholder involved in education has the right to expect the best out of the teachers that are employed in their district. But how do we know if they're meeting the criteria that is expected of them? One way is by using the professional teacher standards to set those expectations for teacher quality and skill. Furthermore, by including them as part of the collaborative professional development or growth plan, those standards become part of the school's makeup.

We should take advantage of the fact that professional teacher standards are the foundation for the rubrics found in most teacher evaluation models across the country. Teachers and administrators should be encouraged to use the rubrics found there as a means to measure effectiveness in meeting the goals set forth in their collaborative professional development and growth plans.

InTASC stands for the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium. The InTASC model core teacher standards were published by the Council for Chief State School Officers in 2011. They are simply a set of professional teacher standards that form the basis for the standards required by the No Child Left Behind Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, both of which mandate that teacher evaluation processes are used to determine teacher quality.

InTASC is made up of four domains that include 10 standards. The list of standards is pretty thorough and both the Danielson and Marzano' models use them in developing their domains and rubrics. Many states also use InTASC when developing their own professional standards as well. Let's take a look at them.

Take a moment to pause here and look these over. They're pretty straightforward and are organized in such a way that makes them fairly easy to remember. You will be asked to refer to this list again later in the Food for Thought section.

Here are a few examples of how the InTASC standards might be used to develop a collaborative professional development or growth plan. The first example demonstrates standard two, learning differences. A classroom teacher is faced with an unusually-wide range of abilities in her third grade class. After doing some research on her own, she finds a book on differentiated instruction and she thinks that might help. So she organizes a book study group with her grade level colleagues. They meet weekly to discuss each chapter from the book.

Next, standard four, content knowledge. A special educator has been assigned to work in a tenth grade science classroom for the first time. She is struggling to understand the content well enough to break it down for her students. She consults with the science teacher and they decide to collaboratively plan lessons.

And finally, standard six, assessment. A district is transitioning to a standards-based reporting system. As a result, the staff at one of the schools decides to use part of the collaborative team meeting each week to explore various types of formative assessment tools and strategies. The principal will also provide a few minutes at each monthly faculty meeting for teams to share their work.

A movement encouraged and even supported by many districts is teachers deciding to hone their craft and increase their skill set by working toward becoming nationally board certified. Achieving the title national board means that you've completed the certification process and have successfully demonstrated that you are a reflective educator who understands and uses the national board teacher standards to improve your craft. It also means you have been recognized as a highly effective teacher in your area of certification.

The National Board follows their own set of teaching standards, but you will find that they are actually very similar to those found in state and test standards. In some instances, teachers are allowed to use the national board certification process as a professional growth and development growth goal as evidence in lieu of other models. It shouldn't be surprising that the research suggests that teachers who have achieved national board certification experience higher levels of student achievement than those teachers who do not hold that level of certification.

Specific standards vary according to the 25 certification areas that are available, but all adhere to the following five core propositions-- that teachers are committed to students in their learning, teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students, teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning, teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience, and teachers are members of learning communities.

Let's recap this lesson. We began by introducing the notion of professional standards. Next, we look specifically at the four domains and 10 InTASC standards-- the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium. I gave a few examples of how these standards could be used to establish collaborative professional developments. And finally, we looked at the core standards associated with the national board certification.

Here's today's food for thought. Take a closer look at the standards and self assess where you are with each of them. As you reflect on how this new information can be applied, you might want to check out the additional resources section that accompany this presentation. This is where you'll find links to resources chosen to help you deepen your learning and explore ways to apply your newly-acquired skill set.

Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you next time.