Read About Best Practices in Professional Expectations and Standards

Introduction/Overview

This module explores professional expectations and standards for teachers. You will examine local, state, and national standards. You will also study professional expectations and long-range planning objectives.

Research and Quality Instruction

Research has shown that student achievement is directly linked to teacher quality. State and national teaching standards provide a framework for teachers' professional growth that requires teachers to engage in ongoing professional development throughout their careers. Professional expectations and teaching standards vary from state to state and even from district to district. Sometimes these standards and expectations vary from campus to campus as well.

Sample Teaching Standards:

• Design and Plan Instruction for Diverse Learners
• Create and Maintain a Learning Climate that Promotes Success
• Demonstrate Knowledge of Content
• Implement Effective Teaching Practices
• Assess Ongoing Learning and Provide Feedback
• Reflect On and Evaluate Instructional Strategies and Student Learning
• Collaborate with Colleagues and Other Professionals
• Communicate with Students and Parents
• Engage in Ongoing Professional Development
• Demonstrate Use of Technology in Planning and Delivering Instruction

According to U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, “Under No Child Left Behind, our nation has a commitment to ensuring that every student has a highly qualified teacher. These new policies will help us keep that promise so that every student can reach his or her potential.”

Each state in our nation must raise and uphold standards and expectations for all teachers through mentoring, training, guidance, and support. As a new teacher, you must learn the expectations placed upon you as a professional educator. Carefully review your district and campus handbooks and ask for clarification on anything unclear.

Types of Professional Growth

There are multiple models for professional growth.

Individually Guided Staff Development

Teachers select learning objectives based on their individual needs as a teacher. Often this includes research in a professional book on a topic of choice.

Observation and Assessment

Clinical supervision is an example of this process. Teachers observing one another and working together to improve teaching practices is an example of using this model to provide quality professional development.

Involvement in a Development or Improvement Process

District, state, and national organizations utilize teachers to help develop standards and curriculum. Working on long-term projects such as these results in a high level of professional learning and growth.

Training

Training situations are a traditional model of staff development. You actually attend a conference, workshop, seminar, or lecture that provides you with sound information to implement in your classroom.

Inquiry

As professionals, we encounter situations that challenge us. Taking the time to research and examine new methods, assessments, or growth plans for students falls under the inquiry model of staff development.

National Standards

National teaching organizations set expectations and standards for teaching professionals. Below are the names of organizations and summaries of their standards. Access these standards by using the links at the end of each section.

International Reading Association (IRA)

1. Foundational Knowledge
   • Know foundations and theories of materials used in the classroom
   • Recognize historical antecedents to instructional theory and practice
   • Describe when students meet developmental benchmarks
   • Identify how research grounds classroom application and practice
2. Instructional Strategies and Curriculum Materials
   • Match instructional grouping options to specific instructional situations
   • Plan for wide use of instructional practices, methods, and approaches, including technology application
   • Plan for wide use of curriculum materials
3. Assessment, Diagnosis, and Evaluation
   • Select and administer a variety of formal and informal assessments
   • Examine data and use it to drive instruction
   • Interpret and communicate reading results to school professionals, students, and parents
4. Creating a Literate Environment
   • Select instructional materials to meet interest level, ability, and cultural background of students
   • Provide variety of instructional materials to ensure wide exposure to different genres and opportunities for reading
   • Model and share purposes for reading in real-life situations
   • Plan and implement instruction that motivates readers intrinsically and extrinsically
5. Professional Development
   • Engage in collaboration and dialogue
   • Participate individually and with colleagues in ongoing professional development

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)

Goal One:

ASCD will develop educators' capacity to address complex problems.

Goal Two:

ASCD will build a more vital and diverse community that shapes teaching and learning worldwide.

Goal Three:

ASCD will influence policies and practices that support quality teaching, learning, and leadership.

Goal Four:

ASCD will commit its resources wisely for maximum value to members and the profession.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

1. Equity—Excellence in mathematics education requires equity, high expectations, and support for all learners.
2. Curriculum—A curriculum must be focused on important mathematics and be a continuum from grade to grade.
3. Teaching—Teachers must understand what students know and need to learn and then provide challenge and support to help them learn it well.
4. Learning—Students must learn mathematics with understanding, actively building new knowledge with experiences and prior knowledge.
5. Assessment—Assessment must support students in learning important mathematics by furnishing useful information to teachers and students that drives instruction.
6. Technology—Technology is an essential tool used to enhance students’ understanding of mathematics.

Teachers are held to rigorous standards. Your state and district standards model themselves after the national standards in each area. The key to meeting these standards is ongoing professional growth and learning. This will provide you with the professional forum needed to keep up with current best-practice instruction.

Teacher Evaluations

You need to know and understand the evaluation system. Your district should provide training, but it is your responsibility to attend. Make sure your questions are answered completely.

Formal Evaluations

Your evaluators will tell you what they look for. Every system is different, but there is a common thread. The goal of instruction is student learning, so all evaluation systems focus on this objective. Teachers are formally observed. Below are sections contained in one state’s evaluation system:

• Active, Successful Student Participation in the Learning Process
• Learner-Centered Instruction
• Evaluation and Feedback on Student Progress
• Management of Student Discipline, Instructional Strategies, and Time/Materials
• Professional Communication
• Professional Development
• Compliance with Policies, Operating Procedures, and Requirements
• Improvement of All Students' Academic Performance

Portfolio Assessment

Many districts are moving to portfolio assessment along with a formal evaluation. Evaluators realize they cannot see all a teacher does throughout the year during a 45-minute visit. Administrators rely on teachers to produce documents that provide proof of predetermined activities. If you put together a portfolio, start to keep records at the beginning of the school year. As you collect examples of your achievements, place them in a folder for later addition to your portfolio. Below is a list of sections in a portfolio and examples of what goes into each section.

• Mission Statement—your beliefs as an educator. See an example below.
  I am a career educator with a strong belief that all students can learn. I continually pursue knowledge to improve my skills and the skills of others in the profession. I believe that true, systematic change occurs through quality staff development geared to the individual teacher as the learner.
• Instruction—examples of curriculum timelines, lesson plans, and student work.
• Communication—examples of professional communication with colleagues, parents, students, and administrators.
• Professional Development—evidence of professional growth experiences
• Assessment and Intervention—examples of ongoing formal and informal assessment and how this drives instruction.
• Monitoring the Academic Performance of the Campus—evidence of working with the campus as a whole to improve the academic performance of all students

Change Is Constant

Many things will change in your career as a professional educator. What will not change is the importance of the role that you play. You are the role model in the classroom. You are held to high moral and ethical standards. Each day you have an opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of students.