The Cleveland Institute for Transformative Education (thecite.org) is hard at work on professional development events and collaboration opporutunies that we know teachers will love. When teachers are asked about where they get their inspiration to change or add to their practice the need for quality, evidenced-based professional development becomes clear.
Quality Professional Development Opportunities are Crucial
The results of a recent survey of 500 K-12 teachers provided insight into where teachers get the new ideas they want to implement in their classrooms. Attending professional development opportunities and conferences was the number one place teachers learned about new ideas. The second most popular source for teachers was a colleagues or word-of-mouth. These findings support the CITE’s belief that quality professional development and collaboration tools are crucial to transformative education.
Professional Development is Personal
Another interesting common response identified in the survey was the criteria teachers value when deciding whether to try a new idea. Teachers report that the idea being evidenced based and aligned with personal instructional style as the top reasons for adopting a new idea into their classrooms. The ideas being endorsed by building principals or district leadership was not rated as important. This finding supports the CITE’s belief that transformative education starts within the individual. Teachers need to be encouraged and inspired to try new things by being provided practical resources that can be directly applied to their classrooms.
Stay tuned to thecite.org for information on our innovative and engaging professional development opportunities.
To get complete information on the survey go to:
https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/data-where-do-teachers-get-their-ideas.html