The Evaluation Exchange
Volume XI, No. 4, Winter 2005/2006
Issue Topic: Professional Development

This issue of The Evaluation Exchange focuses on evaluating professional development across a range of fields, including after school and youth development, education, child care, and child welfare. The issue features innovative methods in professional development, conceptual frameworks and practical tools for evaluating professional development, links between professional development and program quality, and the role of organizational contexts in supporting professional development and positive outcomes. Included in the issue is a Questions & Answers feature with Thomas Guskey, who describes his five-level model for evaluating professional development.

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Table of Contents

From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.

Theory & Practice

• Pathways from Workforce Development to Child Outcomes
  Harvard Family Research Project explores connections between workforce development and child outcomes in four human service sectors. A supplementary, Web-only bibliography is also available.

Spotlight

• Evaluating the Impact of Professional Development in Eight Steps
  Joellen Killion from the National Staff Development Council outlines an eight-step process for measuring the impact of professional development.
• Teacher Professional Development: How Do We Establish It and Know That It's Working?
  Mary Russo, principal of the Richard J. Murphy School in Dorchester, Massachusetts, describes the professional development of school staff and school-level practices to assess its impact.
• Classroom Observation, Professional Development, and Teacher Quality
  Robert Pianta from the University of Virginia describes a classroom assessment scoring system that measures teacher–child interactions and serves as the basis for individualized professional development to strengthen teachers' classroom practice.
  

Promising Practices

• The Three-Step Assessment Tango: Nurturing and Measuring Learning in Online Professional Development
  David Eddy Spicer, Roland Stark, and Martha Stone Wiske from WIDE World describe their process of measuring learning in online professional development. An expanded, Web-only version of this article is also available.
  
• Key Strategies to Educate Public Child Welfare Workers and Improve Child Welfare Systems
  Joan Levy Zlotnik, Mary McCarthy, and Katharine Briar-Lawson review research and evaluation findings on public agency–university partnerships to educate public child welfare workers and the impact of such partnerships on workforce retention.
  
• Coaching for Quality
  Sarah Jonas describes the Children's Aid Society's model of site-based coaching for quality after school programming and the supports they provide to build the capacity of their coaches.
• Engaging Stakeholders in Professional Development and Its Evaluation
  Ila Desmukh Towery and Rachel Oliveri offer lessons for engaging teacher and student stakeholders in the evaluation of a professional development program.

Questions & Answers

• A Conversation with Thomas R. Guskey
  Thomas R. Guskey of the University of Kentucky discusses his five-step process for evaluating professional development in education and its connection to professional development planning.

Ask the Expert

• Who is the after school workforce?
  Beth Miller, senior research advisor to the National Institute for Out-of-School Time (NIOST), and Ellen Gannett, codirector of NIOST, discuss the characteristics of the after school workforce.
  

Beyond Basic Training

• Thinking Like an Educator: An Integrative Approach to Preparing Educators
  Veronica Boix Mansilla and Robert Kegan from the Harvard Graduate School of Education describe a new course that uses an integrative approach to help education students learn to “think like an educator.”
  

Evaluations to Watch

• Staff Characteristics and Professional Development in Quality After School Programs
  Denise Huang describes her work with the National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning to identify best practices for learning in after school programs, including characteristics of effective professional development.
  
• Examining the Efficacy of Two Models of Preschool Professional Development in Language and Literacy
  Nancy Clark-Chiarelli from Education Development Center, Inc. describes an evaluation of two approaches to early literacy professional development—one with a traditional face-to-face mode of delivery and one with a technology-enhanced component.
• Theory of Action in Practice
  Claudia Weisburd and Tamara Sniad from Foundations, Inc. describe the use of a theory of change and a theory of action to help address questions about how to develop and evaluate professional development for after school staff.
• Building an Evaluation Tool Kit for Professional Development
  Jennifer Buher-Kane, Nancy Peter, and Susan Kinnevy of the Center for Research on Youth and Social Policy at the University of Pennsylvania share their experience of creating a tool kit designed specifically for those who provide professional development to out-of-school time program staff.
• Evaluating a Professional Development “Cascade”: From Facilitators to University Faculty to Early Childhood Providers
  Caroline Wilkinson and Shelley Billig from RMC Research Corporation describe their evaluation of the New England Professional Development Initiative's cascade approach to professional development in early childhood education.

New & Noteworthy
This section features an annotated list of papers, organizations, initiatives, and other resources related to the issue's theme. An expanded, Web-only version of this section is also available.

This issue of The Evaluation Exchange was published by Harvard Family Research Project. The managing editors for the issue were Holly Kreider , Ed.D., project manager, and Suzanne Bouffard, research analyst. It was produced by Marcella Michaud, publications/communications manager, and Carrie-Anne DeDeo, publications editor. All rights reserved. This periodical may not be reproduced whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. To request reprint permission or multiple hard copies of the issue email hfrp_pubs@gse.harvard.edu.

Harvard Family Research Project gratefully acknowledges the support of the William T. Grant Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of Harvard Family Research Project and do not necessarily reflect the view of our funders.

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