Teacher-Centered Professional Development

It’s no surprise: professional development as it has been provided in many schools and school districts does not work.  In his highly useful and insightful book, Diaz-Maggioli starts here and asks the logical follow-up question, “So what does?”

The answer?  Teacher-Centered Professional Development.

For Diaz-Maggioli, professional development “should be understood as a job-embedded commitment that teachers make in order to further the purposes of the profession while addressing their own particular needs.  It should follow principles that guide the learning practices of experienced adults, in teaching communities that foster cooperation and shared expertise.” 

Diaz-Maggioli describes how schools can move from a traditional model of professional development to one that is teacher-centered – that is, one where teachers empower themselves and each other by engaging in structured professional development that they lead on their own campuses.  In this teacher-centered approach, for example, teachers engage in peer coaching and peer observation, small team feedback sessions and sharing of instructional practices directly related to their own classrooms with their own school data. 

By illustrating effective methods and strategies with real-life examples, the book acts as a “how-to” guide for schools interested in transforming their approach to professional development.  Closely aligned with the work of Houston A+ Challenge, this book is a must read for school leadership teams interested in improving classroom practices by empowering teachers.