School Type: Public	School Setting: Urban
Level: K-12	School Design: Traditional
Content Presented By:
National Awards Program for Model Professional Development

Summary

The practice: Professional development should be connected to a comprehensive change process focused on improving student learning.

• Developed a set of priorities to raise achievement of low-scoring students (curriculum and professional development)
• Analyzed student achievement data, rethought the curriculum, and connected activities with a PD plan
• In 1995, 80% elementary teachers spent on average 30 minutes a week on science. In 2000, they spent 140 minutes on science
• Middle school offered three years of science in 2000 compared to a year and a half in 1990

San Francisco Unified School District is a large district serving nearly 65,000 diverse students. The former superintendent initiated a comprehensive professional development plan. This plan aimed to increase the achievement of students scoring in the bottom quartile on standardized tests, ensure that all teachers had a broad range of instructional strategies to meet the diverse needs of their students, and expand the effectiveness and quality of professional development.

Multiple components of the plan acknowledged the need for both district and school-based professional development, attention to the growing need to hire novice teachers, and the urgency to improve student achievement. The Professional Development Initiative required each school to analyze student performance data, their curriculum, and instructional processes. After the analysis, teams at each school develop a school-based improvement plan that specifies the professional development necessary to achieve their goals. In addition to school-based plans, each teacher completes a professional development plan that specifies how she or he will continue to learn and contribute to the district's and school's goals.

The district provides eight days of professional development throughout the school year. Four days are set aside for schools to use, three are for district-designed programs, and one is dedicated to special education. In addition to the four days available, schools provide additional time through early release days and flexible scheduling.

A broad-based professional development plan focused on increasing student achievement has helped San Francisco Unified increase student achievement on the CTBS in literacy and mathematics for three consecutive years.

This site also exemplifies the following practice(s):

• Professional development should provide learning opportunities that relate to individual needs but are, for the most part, organized around collaborative problem solving.  

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This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu