Professional Development & School Support
Research
has shown that teacher quality is the single most powerful school-influenced
determinant of student achievement. Although many school systems spend
significant funds to improve instructional quality through professional
development, these efforts are often fragmented, lacking the coordination,
focus, and school-level support needed to implement research-proven strategies.
ERS partners with school systems to create a comprehensive system wide strategy that builds instructional capacity and leadership and ensures expertise and excellence in the classroom. Our combined client work and research have resulted in a powerful inventory of best practices and comparative spending, forming the foundation for our Professional Development and Support practice.
As long as school systems view professional development as easy-to-cut programs instead of an integral part of an educator’s career growth, schools and school systems will remain limited in their capacity for excellence.
Our Approach
ERS’s primary efforts involve a comprehensive review of professional development needs, current spending, and activities. During this diagnostic phase, we work closely with school system leaders and their staffs to provide:
- An assessment of professional development needs based on the analysis of system, school and student performance data
- An inventory of district professional development activities and spending, highlighting:
- Targeted goals, skills, and topics
- Levels of spending
- Sources, management and control of funds
- Methods of delivery
- An evaluation of system and school activities against research-based principles for effective professional development
- A focused professional development strategy tied to system-wide and school-specific performance goals, plans, and needs
- An accountability system to ensure professional development goals are met down to the school, principal, and teacher level
- Implementation assistance around coaching and differentiated school based support
- Delivery of professional development for principals around rethinking school resources and organizing schools for teacher learning
Our Clients
ERS has done extensive work in professional development in cities across the U.S. with clients including:
ERS Web-Based Tools
DREAM – District ResourcE Allocation Remodeler
With support from the School Redesign Finance Project and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ERS has developed, DREAM, a web-based tool that allows school system leaders to test a variety of scenarios for resource use, including allocating funds to coaching, mentoring, common planning time and other instructional improvement strategies.
Get more information and see how DREAM can inform decisions around professional development strategy.