Writing Successful Grants KnowledgeBase

This KnowledgeBase archive includes content and external links that were accurate and relevant as of September 30, 2019.

The Writing Successful Grants KnowledgeBase is an online resource aiding education professionals in their pursuit of public and private grants to support local programs. Its five elements contain information and resources that assist the grant seeker with developing their project, writing the grant proposal and managing the grant upon its award.

Task 4: Review Professional Learning Activities

Guideline: When reviewing professional learning programming the focus should be on developing highly qualified teachers able to use appropriate teaching methods with a curriculum aligned with the state's academic standards. This review should identify opportunities for improvement.

Resources

Checklists

Highly Qualified Staff Members Data Elements

The chart, provides a checklist of data elements related to highly qualified staff members for inclusion in a school profile.

Tools

Staff Development Assessment Inventory

This Learning Forward (formerly National Staff Development Council) survey is designed to help schools determine how their staff development programs measure up to their staff development standards.

Guidelines

A Framework for Reviewing Professional Development Policies and Practices

This article from the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) Policy Brief lists key questions to ask during the review of professional development policies and practices. Each major question has a list of supporting questions to be addressed.

Current Models for Evaluating Effectiveness of Teacher Professional Development

This document lists recommendations to State Leaders from leading experts evaluation of professional development programs.

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

This link is to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) website. As noted at its website, NBPTS "was formed in 1987 to advance the quality of teaching and learning by developing professional standards for accomplished teaching, creating a voluntary system to certify teachers who meet those standards and integrating certified teachers into educational reform efforts." While the NBPTS standards focus on content mastery, they do not reflect on a formally designated teacher leader role.

References

Professional Development at the Middle School

This document reports on the lessons learned from a study conducted by the Center for Prevention Research and Development (CPRD) at the University of Illinois on professional development activities at middle schools. The lessons offered are important in understanding the differing perspectives that teachers and administrators have about professional development.