make right away…and some decisions she will get input from the whole group and then collaboratively we make a decision or rebuild it.”
Although no administrator expressed concern, teachers are worried about the demands on members of the instructional leadership team, in- cluding teacher leaders.
This may be an extension of findings in the case studies that showed teacher concerns related to assessments, the future of the magnet pro- grams, and perceived rigidity in the curriculum. Administrators had op- portunities to discuss the workload, but each interview showed more ex- citement over the possibilities the programs are providing for students than stress or pressure from sources outside the school.
In the end, teachers viewed the leadership of all three schools as posi- tive and contributory to teacher and student success. One teacher
summed it up:
“To me the most important thing is having administrative support.
I worked at a couple of middle schools earlier in my career where that support wasn’t there. That makes the biggest difference.”
second theme is that the PDC has not differentiated for the needs of a di- verse teaching staff. Third, too much control of the PDC has been dic- tated by a “top-down” approach, and more flexibility is needed to meet the specific needs of each school. Finally, teachers and administrators are seeing improvements in design and implementation.
Teachers and administrators are overwhelmingly in favor of the PDC and believe it has had a very positive effect on teaching and student achievement. One teacher said,
“I think PDC is very, very valuable…Having a time to work with col- leagues within the school day is valuable and it will always be valuable. It will just get better as we give input and make it stronger.”
Another teacher shared,
“I think it is useful to them, and, again, the benefits outweigh the risks.”
While most of those interviewed were positive about the PDC, many teachers and some administrators felt that the program did not account for the needs of teachers. The most significant concerns in this area were that the programs were created without differentiation for teacher experi- ence and without regard for effective adult training, including time to practice and implement. Some veteran teachers found the presentations to be restatements of concepts and skills they felt they had already mas- tered. One teacher said,
“I have been teaching for 30+ years, so my needs are not as great as the first year teachers. Hopefully they are not as great. So, my need for PDC doesn’t exist in my opinion. The county feels other- wise, so I have to attend.”
One teacher made this suggestion:
“I think our time would be better spent with action research. Ac- tion research would probably cover it because then you would have the differentiation, teachers could see, ‘What is it that I feel?’ and
they would have metrics to prove this. ‘What is it that I need to know about in order to be better at doing what I am doing?’ and then they could research what has been done in the past; what is being done now; what works best with these types of students,; go and observe different teachers doing that, but more of a self study instead of coming in, having a lesson plan that the staff developer makes and having a ‘one size fits all’...And perhaps the answer with that would be to scale it, just as we do in the classroom. For the new teachers and teachers who need more support, you have more support available. They might need those regular every other day meetings and have more supportive collaboration in that way.”
Teachers also were concerned that the district was satisfied with the presentation of material, but not accounting for the need to practice and develop skills. One teacher said,
“So all of these things that have been implemented, it’s like they would tell us one thing one day, and then we’re expected to just make that a habit and part of our life, and then something new the next day, and it’s not realistic. Adults learn the same way that children do.”
Another teacher commented,
“You would learn a lot, and you would get so excited, but you never really had enough time to use the strategies, you know, because you really don’t use something immediately. You maybe use it in the next week, or it may come to you, when you’re looking at an- other lesson, that this thing that you learned two weeks ago might be good, but we never had enough time, because we were always learning something new the next day or the next day.”
Teachers and administrators also raised concerns about how the PDC topics were determined. Perhaps the most recurrent complaint was that a school would determine specific needs, but not be able to address them because the PDC had been determined for them based on district priori- ties. A teacher complained,
“The consortium has the PDC people meet and they decide what they think. The people up there decide what they think we need.
People outside the classroom, who have not been in the classroom, certainly not in this classroom or school. They dictate to us what sounds like what we need. ‘This sounds great. Let’s see if they can do it.’”
Changes are occurring however. Teachers and administrators noticed greater input in the process, and commented on a more positive direc- tion. One teacher who complained about the philosophical and general nature of PDC topics observed that, after teachers had expressed con- cern about specific learning problems with student, some things changed. He said,
“So the last couple of meetings, I guess it was in November, we stopped dead, we shared strategies…So last year, or even last se- mester, this wouldn’t have been tolerated. I mean it would have just gone by the wayside while we did this perfunctory thing. We spent three sessions last year learning how to write a proper mas- tery objective.”
An administrator noticed more response to teacher needs:
“I’ve seen a lot of improvement this year already from what we did last year, and I think, over time, it will get even better. I think that one of the biggest things we did last year was they did focus
groups with us. They asked, ‘What do you need in PDC?’ and ‘What do you feel you’ve been given this time?’ We were able to say, ‘This is where the issues are,’ and they targeted a little bit better in terms of planning and getting us the tools that we need.”
Most of the professional staff recognize the importance of the PDC to assist the schools in meeting student needs and improving student achievement. One teacher is pragmatic in her support:
“I think it is short-sighted for teachers nationwide and here to complain about the PDC. It is grad. school while we are going to
work. It is an opportunity to interact with your peers, which is so rare in school. The majority of people who will complain about it would say they would rather be doing something else. They would be teaching another class if they didn’t have PDC. I mean, come on!”