Modeling Effective CS Professional Development

Last month, the National Science Foundation sponsored a workshop on creating high-impact professional development experiences for K-12 computer science teachers. After synthesizing research from a variety of models across STEM fields, the leaders of this workshop noted that the most effective professional developments have the following characteristics:

Focuses on a purpose anchored in student learning of specific content in a specific setting

Focuses on curriculum and pedagogy

Focuses on instruction and learning

Models effective practice

Active learning opportunities for teachers

Develop/sustains group work

Collective participation of teachers

Teachers experience critical colleagueship involving critique and trust

Continuous, long-term, with a substantial number of hours

These characteristics resonate with me when I reflect on the many “professional developments” I have had positive (and negative) experiences with both as a teacher and teacher educator in various computer science professional development events.
What do you think? Do these characteristics reflect the type of professional development you think has the most significant impact on your classroom teaching?
Joanna Goode
CSTA Equity Chair