Professional Development That Sticks

[00:01] SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Principal Center Radio, bringing you the best in professional practice.

[00:06] Announcer:

Here's your host, Director of the Principal Center and Champion of High Performance Instructional Leadership, Dustin Bader. Welcome everyone to Principal Center Radio.

[00:15] SPEAKER_01:

I'm your host, Justin Bader, and I'm honored to be joined today by my guest, Fred Endy. Fred is the Assistant Director of Curriculum and Instructional Services for the Putnam Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services in New York State, and is the Vice President of New York ASCD, as well as an ASCD Emerging Leader. And we're here to talk about Fred's new book, Professional Development That Sticks.

[00:41] Announcer:

And now, our feature presentation.

[00:44] SPEAKER_01:

Fred, welcome to Principal Center Radio. Thanks for having me, Justin. Let's talk about the reality in our profession that we're probably a little bit hesitant to admit as school leaders that professional development often does not stick. I wonder if you could, as a starting point, give us your take of why exactly that is. Why do we do so much professional development that does not have the impact that we want it to, that does not stick?

[01:08] SPEAKER_02:

So first, I think all intentions are good when it comes to professional development. I think that we all realize whether we are in leadership roles or we're kind of full-time learners, there's an importance to professional development. We have to keep learning if we're going to grow in our roles and expand to other roles and experience new things. And so we understand the true importance of it. You know, if we stop learning, then we become obsolete in our thinking, in our ways of learning, and in our ways of leading. So we know that it's an important part of any profession, and education is no different.

[01:50]

What often tends to happen, you know, both from my experiences as a teacher, and then experiences as a leader, and knowing from others too, is that even though we know it's kind of one of the plan in particular for professional development way too late. You know, we know that there's a superintendent's conference day coming up in two weeks, and now we're starting to focus on making sure that we can put something together that works for our staff members. And often because of that, we go with the path of least resistance, which often means, you know, kind of a one day, let's bring in someone with tremendous amounts of expertise and let's share that expertise With everyone. And, you know, when we stop to think about it, we know that learning is never one day.

[02:43]

And we also know that not everybody needs to or wants to be learning the same thing at the same time in the same way. So a lot of times it's a recipe that's challenged from the start. And without that proper planning, even under the best facilitation circumstances, we end up with some of our team members being there wondering why they're there to begin with.

[03:08] SPEAKER_01:

So if we need to start the planning process earlier, and we know we're crunched for time, we know we want to create a high quality learning experience, what does that planning process look like in the best case scenario?

[03:20] SPEAKER_02:

Yes. So, you know, one of the things you mentioned, an important piece, right? We're crunched for time and we're always going to be. There's there's no way, despite all our attempts to add a 25th hour in to the day, it's just not going to happen. We can't get there. So one way for us to really begin to address that is to set our planning calendar.

[03:42]

make it larger. We have to think about professional development as not something to look at in the short term, but rather to look at in the long term. In fact, there's no reason why we shouldn't be thinking about the next year's professional development the year before, right? So we need to use and think of our learning as being a system, right? A process that continues. And if we look at it through that lens, then it becomes easier for us to build on it.

[04:14]

And one of the good ways to really do that is to think about data that we can collect about what and how both the youngest learners in our schools and districts and our adult learners, what and how people are learning. And whether that's through, you know, the observations and walk-ins that might be conducted within our buildings and classrooms, whether it's through surveys that are given out to faculty a variety of times to do temperature checks on what's working and what isn't, whether it's conversations with groups of educators, whether they be our classroom teachers, instructional coaches, students themselves. There are ways for us to begin to space out data collection to really get a sense of what's

[05:05]

kind of the newest educational fad. Sometimes we get into that range of bandwagon bias, right, where we begin to follow what seems to be the direction to go. And if it seems like it fits our neighboring district,

[05:25]

sometimes make those decisions without really collecting enough internal data. That's when we get into those positions where people often question, so how is this relevant to me? If people ask themselves that question, Justin, then it's really tough for learning to land well. I think one of the things we have to do is look at professional development planning as a much longer process. And in some cases, we do this very well. But I would contend that we don't do it as well as we can or we should.

[05:56] SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. And it's kind of ironic that we scramble often to plan professional development toward the last minute when we know we have a huge backlog of things we want to address. in professional development. So I love that idea of having a plan for the next year starting this year, having a 12-month or 24-month kind of rolling vision of what needs to take place.

[06:18] SPEAKER_02:

That's right. And I think there are ways to make it easier for us to kind of stick to that. One of the ways is to really make sure that we have planning partners. Professional development shouldn't be planned in isolation. It isn't just the building or district leader's role. In fact, I would say that That can be dangerous professional development planning just by nature of the fact that we're one person.

[06:44]

We have blinders on as we plan. So professional development really actually can be planned best when you have a variety of voices that are involved in that planning and whether that's going to be department chairs assisting individuals. in a secondary school, grade level chairs in an elementary school, instructional coaches to help out, or simply random selection of teachers, that can really help not only make sure that building or district leadership is in tune with the direction of things, But you've also helped build meaning and relevance for the people who are in that room. So you already have your own little capacity club that's been built. You have people who are already on board And what it also does, Justin, is it helps us determine from that leadership role who this is really going to land well for and who it isn't.

[07:44]

Because one of the things that we want to avoid having to do is try and build support for learning from the outset. When we start professional development, any type of learning opportunity, the last thing we want to worry about is people not really wanting to be there, right? And to avoid that, we have to make sure that people understand why it's a valuable opportunity for them and that our audience is correct. And to know that, we need to bring other people's voices into the planning.

[08:20] SPEAKER_01:

And what do we do when we start to realize that maybe we've got a topic on the agenda, we've got a particular professional development topic, say, in literacy or in math, and we always go to the answer that, well, we believe in teaching literacy across the curriculum or we believe in teaching math across the curriculum, right? But sometimes we find that we're focusing as a whole staff on a topic that genuinely is not relevant to everyone. What do you advise that school leaders do when we find ourselves in that situation where we really can't say, okay, this really matters specifically for your content area for our entire staff?

[08:58] SPEAKER_02:

I think then it's important to really go back and think about the purpose. Why is that really a focus? What is it that our school or our district is trying to achieve? If it is in that sense that we really do believe that everyone, let's say, is a literacy teacher, a teacher of reading and writing, for instance, then how do we best structure that? What's the best format to make sure that lands for people? Now, in some cases, maybe it is bringing everybody together, sharing some expertise, having people break into groups and learn and come back over time to work with each other.

[09:38]

But in some cases, maybe because of the structure of a building or the way departments have been designed, maybe actually It's better addressed through small group sessions with departments or combined departments that are being led by people in that area of expertise, you know, let's say math or science, who also have done wonderful things bringing literacy into their classrooms. So, you know, the idea sometimes of everything being applicable to everybody can be true, but sometimes it's the way we design that learning, the actual format it takes that's the real problem. Maybe a full experience for everybody at the same time isn't the right way, and maybe we can help people learn a little better through smaller group design with kind of targeted expertise sharing from people who might matter most to that group.

[10:36] SPEAKER_01:

So Fred, if we do want to sit down with stakeholders who will be participating in the professional development and get a plan together and carry out that plan and then take the next steps, what does the whole process look like? What are the phases that you outline in professional development that sticks?

[10:54] SPEAKER_02:

One of the things I found through my work, you know, as I've worked with both educators through our agency and then working with districts throughout my region in the northern suburbs of New York City, is that you can really look at professional development that leads to learning as being broken down into three phases. We've kind of talked a little bit about that initial phase, that planning, the importance of taking time, bringing other people in, making sure that the purpose matches whatever format the learning is going to take. The other two phases are equally important. And to share that with you, I'm actually, instead of kind of going direct from planning to the next phase, I'm actually gonna mention kind of the end piece of it first, because it's also another phase that tends to be not given as much time as it needs, right? So if you think about it, you've got planning, okay, then we've got the actual PD, the providing of it, and then the best professional development

[11:53]

experiences have tremendous amounts of follow-up okay and follow-up can look like a number of different things it can be as simple as reach out from the pd provider the facilitator to participants to see how things are going how things landed what they need help with that can be done through evaluations after surveys surveys given again a few months later to see what practitioners have changed in their practice. It can be chats with students, right, who are those kind of end learners down the line to see what has changed for them. It can also be follow-up in terms of additional professional learning experiences that might be Set up over a period of time, whether it's months or weeks or sometimes years, can be done virtually.

[12:45]

And the nice part about any type of follow-up is that it builds in positive accountability. We think often of accountability as a bad word, but it really doesn't and shouldn't be. It's important for us to be accountable.

[13:06]

So we need to be accountable to ourselves and to others. It's just a way to think of that accountability in a positive light. And by building in follow up, it provides those people who are learning with a sense that this is important, this is work that's going to change me as an educator, and It's work that I need to make sure I address in my practice because people and me and myself are counting on me to explore this. And that's, you know, when we have a, as we often call like a one and done type of workshop, it can be very empowering for the people in the room. But as we know, you know, unless we keep building on our learning,

[13:59]

We tend to fall back into our old habits and ways of doing things. So that's a really important phase. And then sandwiched between it is the part of professional development we're most familiar with, the providing, right? And the providing needs to be done well too. We have to always be reading our audience. We have to be willing to adjust our facilitation strategies.

[14:22]

We need to be comfortable playing the role of both facilitators facilitator and learner so we can always see the experience through the lens of the people who are learning alongside us. But the challenge, I think, Justin, for us is to look at professional development as more than just the providing. Too often we focus on that and without proper planning and without excellent follow-up, learning tends not to take place and not to stick.

[14:51] SPEAKER_01:

And I think the sense of relief that we might feel when a professional development day is over, especially if it went well, can lead us to not pay attention to that very important issue of follow-up. And I think the bottom line, as you said, is what has changed in terms of practice? What professional learning, not just activity, but what actual learning and change is taking place in our practice?

[15:16] SPEAKER_02:

That's right. I mean, I would say that the status quo, right? Keeping things status quo is a dangerous place to be, right? That doesn't mean that we should be changing for the sake of change. Certainly not, right? Change needs purpose.

[15:29]

But we do also know that, um, if, if we spend too much time in that status quo area, um, harder for us to change. We become even more risk averse than we might normally be. So the idea that constant learning keeps us more open to change and more open to changing our practice is really, really important. And so we need to think of professional development, you know, being a process that never ends. It's continuous, it's cyclical, and in order for us to do it well, we've got to make sure that we're doing equal parts planning, providing, and following up, and using that follow-up, Justin, to begin the process anew or to continue it the next year or whatever the next time period is.

[16:24] SPEAKER_01:

Very well said. And I think it's that structure there that, I mean, to me, it sounds like is almost as important as the quality of the sessions themselves. And there are definitely formats of professional development that I will not do because I know they don't work to say to only have one session for certain topics where we're talking about skills that have to be developed over a long period of time. And I was talking with a colleague of mine who does...

[16:50]

professional development for districts on a fairly complex topic and insists on 15 sessions, you know, 15 dates and kind of touch points with the district in order to make sure that it does stick. So, you know, I know we are always cognizant of the quality of each individual session. You know, we don't want people to be bored. We don't want people to fall asleep. We want to have our handouts made. We want to have, you know, refreshments and things like that.

[17:13]

But the big picture, the long-term structure, the planning, the evaluation, the reflection, the adaptation and modification, it sounds like you're saying that's just as critical as what happens within any one session.

[17:25] SPEAKER_02:

It really is, Justin. You know, for me, one of the things that I also talk in the book are the importance of kind of frameworks for helping us encapsulate these big kind of important processes like professional development, planning. And so, you know, one of the things that's been helpful for me is a frame that I call the TAR frame. You know, think TAR, sticky, you know, so there's a bit of a connection there. But All tar really is is a way of saying, okay, as I go throughout each of these phases, okay, there are opportunities for me to think, there are opportunities for me to take action, and then there are opportunities for me to go back and review, right? Because one of the things we don't want people to do, Justin, is to think that, okay, you know, that follow-up phase is the only time where I'm really focusing on reflecting, right?

[18:20]

In fact, we want to make sure that this importance of really thinking about the process, taking action, and then reviewing what we've done happens throughout. For me, it was helpful to have a frame like that because otherwise I found myself getting lost in the enormous nature of professional development as a whole. You know, so it doesn't have to be tar. It can be any type of way to help leaders break down the process of professional development planning to really keep in mind both the trees and the forest, right? Seeing the small pieces as well as the larger aspect.

[19:04] SPEAKER_01:

Right, and you apply that think, act, review framework at all three stages, right? The planning, the providing, and the following up phases.

[19:12] SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely, because everybody goes through processes differently. But for me, it was simply too big a process to look at it as... these three phases as being kind of not connected other than the fact that they were part of a professional development design. I needed, personally, a way to see a unifying theme throughout, and that tar frame really helped me kind of plan in a way that worked for my mind.

[19:45]

So, you know, it might not work for others, but I do think there's a value to finding a way to help you work through all those phases, always giving yourself the time to think about the process, to act on what you have to do in that phase, and then to give yourself time to think about how it actually worked.

[20:08] SPEAKER_01:

Well, Fred, with that framework in mind, if you could wave a magic wand and get our listeners, get school leaders everywhere to do one or two things to improve the state of professional development in our profession, what would that be? So I would say on the front end of the process.

[20:25] SPEAKER_02:

We need to really do our best to think professional development throughout at all times. Kind of let that little idea sink in in conversations we have or noticings we make. Oh, okay. This ties back into learning that our team here could use. Be comfortable providing opportunities for folks to share ideas. feedback whether it be through through a survey or some other form just to make sure that professional development design is always on your mind so we don't find ourselves three weeks before superintendents conference day you know struggling to figure out what's going to work for people and then i would say um we need to do our best to make sure that every learning opportunity is never singular, that it is not simply a day of learning because we don't learn in a day.

[21:24]

We learn through constant follow-up and building on what we've learned. So one of the things we've tried to do in our organization as we've designed professional development for our region is always think in terms of either multi-day workshops or opportunities for virtual follow-up or direct contact with the facilitator afterwards. Whatever we can do to make sure that that learning doesn't end at 3 p.m. on the day of that workshop. and that participants know that there's that individual positive accountability to keep the learning going back in their own classrooms or buildings once they leave that workshop.

[22:11] SPEAKER_01:

So the book is Professional Development That Sticks, available from ASCD. Fred, if people want to find you and connect with you online, where can they do that?

[22:19] SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, Justin, I'm pretty easy to find. People can connect with me on Twitter. It's at Fred Ende, F-R-E-D-E-N-D-E. People can also check out my website, which has some of my past work, some of my writing for people to see what I'm thinking about, ways to get in touch with me. That's fredende.com.

[22:42]

My email is fred.endy at hotmail.com. And as Justin said, the book is out from ASCD, but you can also get it through Amazon and Barnes & Noble as well. Well, Fred, thanks so much for joining me on Principal Center Radio. And thanks for having me, Justin.

[22:57] SPEAKER_00:

Pleasure. And now, Justin Bader on high-performance instructional leadership.

[23:02] SPEAKER_01:

So high-performance instructional leaders, what did you take away from my conversation with Fred Endy on planning professional development? One thing that really stands out to me is the importance of looking at that whole cycle, looking at the planning phase, looking at the phase where we're actually providing the the sessions, the activities, and then looking at the follow-up phase and connecting over the long term. And I think one really critical role that we can play as leaders is making sure the right work gets into that pipeline. There will be no shortage of topics clamoring for our attention in our professional development sessions, and we know time is scarce. We know we never have as much time as we would like. So when people come to you with a topic that they want to see land on your agenda, you've got to be ready to say yes or to say no based on your priorities and based on the priorities and the criteria that you have developed with your staff.

[24:02]

And this is a great topic to address in your decision-making handbook. There should be a group of people in your school who are responsible for vetting professional development topics, for making those decisions. Because if you handle everything on an ad hoc basis, when something comes up, you make a decision, or sometimes you kick it to someone else to make a decision, or sometimes a committee makes a decision, the more inconsistency you have in how you decide, the lower in quality your decisions are going to be and the lower trust you're going to experience and the lower buy-in you're going to experience. So I want to encourage you to check out our new course in our professional membership called High Performance Decision Making. You can find out more about that and all of our other courses at principalcenter.com slash join.

[24:49] Announcer:

Thanks for listening to Principal Center Radio. For more great episodes, subscribe on our website at principalcenter.com slash radio.