Professional Development of Teachers

Professional development of teachers involves a wide variety of specialized workshops, training, education, and advanced professional learning opportunities intended to help teachers improve their professional knowledge, competence, skill, and effectiveness. Professional development of teachers has been a major focus of school reform efforts in recent years. This entry first describes the core features of effective professional development of teachers, and the challenges to ensuring professional development are effective. It then looks at how professional development programs for teachers are evaluated.

Effective professional development of teachers deepens content knowledge, transforms teaching practices, and fosters individual and group learning. There are several key factors to consider in designing professional development programs for teachers. Professional development is most effective when teachers are treated as professionals and active learners who ...