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CHAPTER 6

Mimi Harris Steadman

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT





      A significant challenge faced by schools undertaking school-to-work initiatives is preparing teachers to develop the wide array of skills needed in their efforts to prepare students for both college and careers. Teachers are expected to integrate academic and vocational curriculum, to work across departments and disciplines, and to collaborate with postsecondary and business partners. Teachers, many of whom who have been working in schools since college graduation, are called upon to understand the skill requirements of a variety of workplace settings, and to incorporate relevant examples from other careers into their subject area content. In addition, a growing number of faculty are required to adapt their instructional methods to accommodate new school schedules with longer course periods. School-to-work endeavors demand all this on top of the extensive skill and knowledge base already required of any classroom teacher. How can professional development prepare teachers to meet the challenges of complex reform efforts?

      This chapter will provide examples of professional development strategies from several schools that are part of the National Center for Research in Vocational Education's (NCRVE's) Urban Schools Network. As explained in Chapter One, the Urban Schools Network started as a technical assistance effort designed to provide intensive professional development, including training and planning time, in curriculum integration or Tech Prep for teams of academic How can professional development prepare teachers to meet the challenges of complex reform efforts? and vocational teachers, administrators, counselors, and others. The teams who attended NCRVE's summer institutes of 1992 and 1993 returned to their schools charged with educating and motivating their colleagues about Tech Prep and curriculum integration and with providing some of the training needed to carry out the planned activities. This was a demanding assignment, given the complexity of Tech Prep, curriculum integration, and school-to-work reform in general.

      Since 1992, the Urban Schools Network sites have strived to offer their colleagues a variety of professional development experiences and have employed creative strategies to carve out time for staff learning and planning. Illustrations of these activities follow, along with strategies for successful professional development shared by participants in a July 1997 focus group of Network members.


MOTIVATION FOR CHANGE

      Before making a commitment to engage in the hard work of integrating curriculum, building business partnerships, or drawing up articulation agreements, educators need to believe that this type of reform effort makes sense. Sending teachers and administrators to large national or state conferences is one professional development strategy Urban Schools Network sites have used to expose new people to the ideas of school-to-work reform. National conferences provide teachers and administrators the time and place to learn new ideas, skills, and concepts. It is energizing and reassuring to learn about the scope of school-to-work efforts and outcomes nationwide. One Urban Schools Network principal explained that he "got religion" at a national conference and returned home motivated to pursue school-to-work planning and implementation.

      Another administrator asserted that the value of national networking opportunities "should not be underestimated." He explained:

I think one of the great advantages of our participation in the Network is that we've been able to bring a large number of teachers and counselors and other high school personnel to places like Berkeley, Baltimore, Washington, and Nashville. For many of these teachers it was their first opportunity to actually leave their classrooms to go somewhere and be treated as professionals, and hear from experts, and share with colleagues from other parts of the country. That creates a lot of momentum. This type of experience really energizes teachers and gets them to begin the process of reading, networking, and considering more ideas.

      Network teachers reported that they valued the broadened perspective they gained from sharing struggles and success with educators from across the country at NCRVE summer institutes and regional meetings. As one teacher said, "we learned that while things may be tough in our district, it's even worse" elsewhere. Hearing from others also helped people understand that although they still have a long way to go, they had indeed made some significant progress.

      Network members recommended sending a group or team of people to a conference when possible, because travel off-site can provide planning and get-acquainted time. Staff from different departments and even different institutions must work together closely in these efforts and travel time simply helps them to get to know one another. Moreover, when removed from the daily responsibilities of school and home, teams often put in extra evening hours when conference sessions are over, to apply what they have learned, brainstorm new ideas, and engage in in-depth planning. Needless to say, cost is a major barrier to broad staff participation in off-site conferences.

      Visiting other schools is another strategy Urban Schools Network sites have used to introduce staff to school-to-work concepts. Visits to other sites can inform decision making when considering a major change, such as move to career clusters, academies, or a block schedule. Site visits are especially useful for staff who are opposed to change as a rule, because it is harder to resist when you have witnessed something worth changing to. When you learn from other schools, one teacher reported, "you don't have to reinvent the wheel." Network members noted a positive trend toward the open sharing of ideas across schools and districts.


TEACHERS' ROLES IN A COHERENT
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

      When asked about features of meaningful professional development, a focus group of Network faculty and administrators agreed that teachers--those who are supposed to benefit from the activity--must have a role in prioritizing staff development topics, and in determining the design. The challenges of dealing with staff turnover while orienting people to school-to-work efforts, and training new staff in the curriculum integration process, brought up an ongoing struggle in staff development, one that parallels issues in instruction for students. How do you deliver training that meets staff at their individual levels of understanding, without boring those who have already grasped the concepts? One administrator warned that presenting "the same old hash warmed over" was a guaranteed staff development turnoff. Although focus group members advocated teacher participation in addressing the challenges of planning professional development, they also expressed caution that a good staff development program could not offer all things to all people without being disconnected and incoherent.

      Staff from many Urban Schools Network sites advocated a move toward a carefully planned professional development program that is aligned with the larger goals of the school or district. This trend marks a move away from a "shot gun" approach that targets a single instructional problem in isolation from the larger school context (although this may be needed from time to time), or the "grab bag" approach, in which staff development training is selected randomly from a set of potentially useful topics. This reflects a shift in staff development, reported in the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) monograph, A new vision for staff development (Sparks and Hirsch, 1997, p. 12), away from "fragmented, piecemeal improvement efforts to staff development driven by a clear, coherent strategic plan for the school district, each school, and the departments that serve schools." In a professional development program that is part of a school or district's framework of larger goals, each workshop or other activity provides a foundation for, or builds upon, another, and, in the best cases, evaluations are used to improve future events.

      According to the ASCD monograph, within a coherent, strategic plan for staff development there is also a shift from district-focused to school-focused approaches to staff development. This shift has also been evident in the Urban Schools Network. In Las Cruces, New Mexico, for example, a new district-level staff development director position was recently created. While this is a district-level position, the director is focusing on helping individual schools set their own professional development agendas.

      As mentioned above, Urban Schools Network teams emphasized the importance of faculty's role in the design and selection of professional development. Moreover, they encouraged, when appropriate, that teachers lead professional development activities. This approach recognizes teachers' individual areas of professional expertise and allows staff to learn from new ideas and innovations that colleagues in their own school have tried. One practice is having teachers who attend national conferences or indepth training programs prepare a mini workshop, presentation, or written report upon return. This brings new information back to the school, while reinforcing the learning of those who traveled off-site. In March 1996, Las Cruces Public Schools held a successful district wide staff development day at Oñate High School that showcased the knowledge of local teachers, and offered participants choices in their learning. After presentations from outside experts, teachers selected from a variety of workshops facilitated by their fellow faculty members and moved out into the classrooms. Some teachers presented sessions based on what they had learned at other conferences, and a pair of business academy teachers shared their expertise in designing integrated projects, including a regional example from New Mexico in which students developed a business proposal for a chili farm.

      Another way that teachers have facilitated professional development is in the role of outside consultants. Staff at Bryan High School in Omaha, Nebraska, indicated Teachers are more likely to remember and use what theyÕve learned when the end product of a workshop or training is something that they created themselves. that one of the most valuable staff development opportunities in their preparation for a move to block scheduling was a visit from a small group of Colorado teachers. These teachers, who had already experienced the transition were available for one-on-one consulting and trouble shooting on Bryan's proposed curriculum and instructional modifications. Because of their credibility as classroom teachers who had experienced a change to block scheduling, the consultants' warnings of potential pitfalls and shared strategies for success were carefully considered. This example reflects another national shift in staff development, from staff developers who serve only as trainers, to staff developers who serve as consultants and facilitators (Sparks and Hirsch, 1997).

      A final role for teachers in professional development is that of active participants rather than passive recipients. A Cleveland teacher and frequent curriculum workshop leader notes that teachers are more likely to remember and use what they've learned when the end product of a workshop or training is something that they created themselves. An assistant principal from New Mexico agreed that the most successful professional development events at her school have involved hands-on activities for teachers. "We talk about that for kids," she said, "but how often do we provide that for teachers?" Her words echo the views of the current literature on professional development:

What everyone wants for students--a wide array of learning opportunities that engage students in experiencing, creating, and solving real problems, using their own experiences, and working with others--is for some reason denied to teachers when they are learners (Lieberman, 1995, p. 591).

      As more professional development activities model the type of instruction we advocate for students, perhaps the passive, and rather unenthusiastic phrase, "we were in-serviced" will be uttered less often. In the next sections we consider some of the goals of professional development for school-to-work efforts.


BRIDGING BOUNDARIES AND
BUILDING COLLABORATIONS

      School-to-work efforts require bridging the boundaries between academic and vocational departments, secondary and postsecondary institutions, and school and industry stakeholders, in order for these diverse participants to work together productively. Fostering collaboration can be a focus of professional development, even within a single school, as illustrated in the following example. Lake Clifton-Eastern High School in Baltimore, Maryland, is so large that it can take fifteen minutes to walk from one end of the building to another. As one might imagine, teachers in one wing of the building were not very well acquainted with those in the other. And as is the case in many schools, including smaller ones, even teachers who had been at the school for years were unfamiliar with the work of their colleagues from different disciplines. Academic teachers, in particular, did not fully understand the work that took place in the Career and Technology Education classes, labs, and studios located in the opposite wing of the building.

      To encourage teachers to bridge the boundaries between the academic and vocational wings of the school, staff planned a cross-department visitation day. Under a modified, reduced period schedule, academic teachers visited a number of Career and Tech. Ed. labs and shops, including business education, carpentry, brick laying, child care, and printing.

      Academic teachers had an opportunity to consider how the skill and content areas of their disciplines might apply in the broader context of different careers. During a visit to the print shop, the printing teacher stressed how rigorous the grammar and spelling requirements are in the printing field. In some classes, the spelling in an essay may be less crucial than the content, but students' spelling in printing classes had to be perfectly accurate before a text could go out to the public. Print shop teachers worked with English teachers to experiment with editing software, and together they discussed the benefits and limitations of this technology. In the photography lab, math teachers got a firsthand look at what applied geometry might entail, such as the measurements required to properly align negatives during the film development process. The visitation day was rated highly by staff. The classroom visits enhanced academic teachers' perception of the work done in the career and technical fields, and sparked some interest in collaboration across departments.

      In Baltimore, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, and other cities, cosponsored staff development events enable high school and college faculty to get acquainted and work together. Sometimes workshops at a college will feature equipment or technology not available at the partner high schools. Network members cautioned that one thing they found frustrating was a training session full of brilliant ideas and techniques but presented to teachers who lack the resources or equipment required for implementation. While this may be frustrating initially, it also increases awareness. A community college administrator from New Orleans noted that her college computer lab offers technology-oriented workshops, such as training on how to use the Internet and/or Microsoft Word, Excel, or Powerpoint to high school faculty. This exposure can create a demand for resources on the part of the high school teachers that ultimately results in action.

      To bridge the gap between high school and college faculty, Doña Ana Branch Community College in Las Cruces, New Mexico, recruits high school faculty to teach dual enrollment courses at the college. With this strategy, high school teachers more fully understand the prerequisite skills and requirements of college courses. This helps them prepare their high school students for success in articulated college courses and promotes communication among secondary and postsecondary faculty.

      In Baltimore, distance learning technology was another strategy used to bring together teachers from across the district to participate in a series of workshops on integrated curriculum. Workshop participants remained at their own schools at the end of the day, and were able to avoid a commute in traffic across the city, a benefit much appreciated on rainy or snowy winter afternoons. Even some schools that were not fully equipped with interactive technology for distance learning managed to participate using telephone and fax. These workshops, offered via distance learning, required active participation in learning and applying new concepts, with teachers working in teams to develop curriculum.


CONNECTING CLASSROOM
AND CAREERS

      Another challenge for teachers in school-to-work initiatives is gaining knowledge of the skill demands of various industries, and connecting classroom learning to careers through relevant industry examples. Getting school staff into industry through tours, job shadowing, and internships has been a recent professional development emphasis at many Urban Schools Network sites.

      In the spring of 1997, a small group of Detroit educators, including academic and technical teachers, counselors, administrators, and special education consultants, spent a day at a major United States automaker's plant. A district administrator set up the visit with a request for the opportunity to learn about the multiple facets of the automobile industry, and the requirements for potential job applicants. The educators were met by a vice president, plant manager, and human resources staff and given an extensive tour of the plant. The visitors were surprised to see that this modern plant, which was producing one of the top-selling trucks in the country, in no way resembled their preconceived images of an auto assembly line. The busy three-shift operation required only some fifty people per shift because the manufacturing process was highly Getting teachers into industry through tours, job shadowing, and internships has been a recent professional development emphasis at many Network sites. automated. Often workers enter commands on computers at one end of the plant that signal automated procedures to begin as far as a football field away.

      The educators were also taken through the application and hiring process for autoworkers. They got a firsthand look at different standardized tests--for aptitude, attitude, physical dexterity, and others-- required of all applicants for jobs across the auto industry. They also learned that every applicant is required to submit to a drug test. While job candidates can retake the other required tests to improve their performance, any applicant who fails the highly sensitive drug test is immediately excluded from a job in the auto industry. Similar drug testing is now taking place in other industries, such as banking. In addition to the valuable information about skill requirements for autoworkers in a modern assembly plant, the drug test aspect of the application process made a strong impression on the small group of educators, who returned to their schools to share this information with other faculty, who in turn passed on this significant warning to their students.

      Across the country, Urban Schools Network sites' relationships with business partners are helping teachers learn more about industry. A Baltimore administrator noted that business partners provided learning opportunities for students and for teachers:

Our business partners have also been very good about inviting teachers into their sites, which makes a big difference in terms of having teachers want to change the way they teach and what they teach. As an example, [our business partner] invited all of our department heads, as well as our guidance counselor and representatives from the community college, to come in for presentations at their site, so teachers could have a better idea of all aspects of that industry, and what students need to know.

      One Network site offered professional development credit for teachers who toured different industry areas. To obtain credit, teachers had to develop a lesson plan that connected a vocational area with one of their courses, and these lesson plans were compiled and distributed among the staff.

      Some industry visits expanded into job shadowing experiences. One Network site received a grant to shadow four companies over a two-week period, companies where the school had previously been unsuccessful in placing students. The teachers appreciated the longer time period they were given to visit the companies, especially since the grant required them to document their experience and how they would use what they had learned. Teachers wrote curriculum units after the visits designed to help students understand the skill and knowledge requirements for those fields.

      Network teachers from Cleveland, Detroit, Omaha, and other cities are spending extended periods of time in industry settings through internship or externship placements, many of which are paid positions. These work placements allow teachers to learn firsthand what skills students will need in different industries and enable teachers to connect school and workplace learning based on their direct experience in the field. East Senior High in the Akron Public Schools has developed an externship program, in which classroom teachers go to various job sites in the summer, often in pairs of academic and vocational teachers, and are responsible for bringing back what they've learned to the classroom. In Omaha, Nebraska, the Omaha Jobs Clearinghouse helps teachers as well as students find internship placements.

      A Detroit Public Schools administrator noted that many teachers now work in industry in the summer, and sometimes during the school year as well. Computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting teachers work in paid, summer-long placements at a major automotive technology center. Many culinary arts teachers keep current in their field by working throughout the year in evening positions in the kitchens of area hotels. In addition, more traditional business teachers are working in the business field outside of school. This experience provides them with relevant workplace examples to use in the classroom. For example, a business teacher from East Senior High in Akron completed a summer externship at a technology and computer firm. An added benefit of her externship placement was participating in staff development training for the company's employees.

      Many Network teachers have visited other industries, and sometimes the workplace comes to the school. Business partner representatives have visited Network schools to explain their work to students, and, in some cases, to present workshops for students on topics like time management or interviewing skills. Other teachers have been invited to participate in these presentations, their schedules permitting. This learning opportunity for teachers has the added advantage of marketing industry collaboration efforts to the entire school staff.


CREATING TIME FOR
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

      No matter what schools are trying to teach or achieve through professional development--exposing teachers to industry requirements, training a team in integrating curriculum, or preparing staff for block scheduling--a persistent challenge is finding the time to do it. In their efforts to develop coherent systems for professional development, Urban Schools Network sites still found it necessary to beg, borrow, or steal time for professional development and planning.

      Some Network teachers have asserted, and others would agree, that the worst time for staff development is at the end of the school day, when "you've already expended all your energy." As an alternative, they have petitioned their school boards for designated staff development days, early dismissal or late start days so that staff development activities can be scheduled during the regular school day, without students present. Some Network districts provide substitutes so that teachers can attend conferences, write curriculum, or visit an industry partner. In other districts substitutes are in short supply. One teacher explained that even when substitutes are available, she and her colleagues, working under a block schedule, "are reluctant to miss a ninety-minute class to No matter what schools are trying to teach or achieve through professional development, a persistent challenge is finding the time to do it. go to a conference." A business teacher said she avoided using substitutes, explaining that "preparing for and following up after a substitute is far more work than being there."

      Some Network teachers advocated more paid summertime work and the virtual elimination of staff development while school is in session. One teacher put it this way: "trying to do staff development during the school year is like trying to change a tire while the car is moving." However, eliminating staff development during the school year runs contrary to the notion of the school as a place with ongoing learning opportunities for both students and the adults who work there (McLaughlin, 1992). Teachers, like other professionals, are expected to continue learning on the job, and to upgrade their skills as job requirements change. In school-to-work efforts in particular, teachers need to learn, plan and create together throughout the entire school year. While there may be no perfect time to offer professional development, Network sites employed a number of creative strategies to carve out time for teacher learning.

      Teachers at West Charlotte High School in North Carolina, for example, had an extremely short window of time to prepare to implement a new senior project requirement. Since scheduling the entire faculty for training was not possible in the time available, the school offered flexible videotape training on senior projects. A series of videotapes was placed in the library, and teachers could sign out the tapes for professional development at their convenience. Other schools have left professional development videotapes playing in the staff room. Using a similar approach, at Volunteer State Community College outside of Nashville, Tennessee, all staff development events are videotaped and made available in the library for those who were absent.

      Some Urban Schools Network sites have limited the focus of professional development to just one or two goals in a given year, for the sake of time and Teachers need to learn, plan, and create together throughout the entire school year. manageability, and to offer more in-depth learning. In Baltimore County, Maryland, Lansdowne High School opted to focus staff development for one year on the transition to a block schedule. This strategy was an attempt to master one change well without distraction from competing endeavors. At this school, nearly the entire staff elected to participate in an optional week-long summer workshop, offered at different times to accommodate teachers' summer schedules. This lesson-planning workshop was designed to help teachers adapt their curriculum to the new schedule before the school year started, thus saving them time and energy once classes were under way.

      Even when schools manage to dedicate sufficient time to professional development activities, teachers still need time to apply what they have learned. For example, an interdisciplinary group of faculty needs time to collaboratively write integrated curriculum units, and academy or career cluster teams need common planning time to develop projects and activities. A fluid boundary exists between time for teacher learning through professional development training, and out-of-class time for teachers to plan and work together.

      A group of technology cluster teachers at the former Harrisburg Steelton-Highspire Technical School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, developed an innovative short-term approach to carve out some weekly common planning time. Teachers alternated as substitutes for each others' classes, but not as "baby-sitters" who simply monitored students while they completed worksheets or other assignments. Instead, students were asked in advance to generate a list of topics of special interest to them, and substitutes prepared presentations on those topics, based on their areas of expertise. Teachers benefited from common meeting time, and students benefited from guest presentations on topics of great interest to them.

      Two aspects of professional development that many Network members felt were lacking at their sites are adequate followup of training and opportunities to practice and refine skills. Because of the hectic pace in schools, people felt starved for the opportunity to share the results--both positive and negative-- of their work in implementing new instructional strategies. At one school, a move to block scheduling was preceded by a few years of intensive staff development, planning time, and open lines of communication. Once the new schedule was implemented, albeit with a positive response overall, the faculty felt abandoned when opportunities for learning about instructional strategies for the block schedule faded away soon after implementation.

      Teachers at one Network site came up with a strategy to provide followup for recent training in integrated project development. The principal agreed to their request to set aside time at each monthly faculty meeting to give teachers time to share ideas and inquiries based on their attempts at developing new integrated projects. Some agenda items were presented in writing, leaving more time for discussion. This opportunity to exchange ideas on a regular basis was both productive and greatly appreciated, especially since the exchange took place during regularly scheduled meeting time, rather than in an "add-on" meeting.

      When time and energy were in short supply, some Network sites offered incentives, such as professional development credit or continuing education units (which save participants time in the future), to make staff development more appealing. Offering stipends for summer or weekend work is another way to recognize the value of participants' time. In Oklahoma City's CREATE consortium, teachers were given a choice about the format of their summer staff development activities. Some staff chose to attend local workshops, for which they received a stipend and the flexibility of returning home in the evening. Other staff opted to forgo the stipend for the chance to travel to a conference out of town. Other sites have offered minigrants on a targeted theme, such as career planning or integrated curriculum, allowing teachers to focus their work on related areas of most importance to them.


LESSONS LEARNED

      Through week-long retreats (see Box 6-1), half-day site visits, two-hour videotapes, or ten-minute slices of faculty meetings, Urban Schools Network members have carved out time for teacher learning and planning. Since 1992, the staff of Network sites have made the most of limited time and resources and provided professional development to build the skills and knowledge required in school-to-career initiatives. In a focus group that looked back on five years of experience in the Urban Schools Network, teachers and administrators shared these guidelines for success:

BOX 6-1

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
A LOCAL SCHOOL-TO-WORK RETREAT

      NOTE: This is a modified version of an article entitled, "Stretch Your Staff Development Dollars with a Local School-to-Work Retreat" that originally appeared in NCRVE's Center Work, 8 (1) 1997.
      NCRVE's Urban Schools Network started with a summer institute, and many Network members encourage participation in national institutes or conferences as a motivating introduction to school-to-work reform efforts. But for most schools, it is prohibitively expensive to send large numbers of faculty and staff to off-site workshops. As an alternative strategy, some Urban Schools Network sites have hosted their own summer institute-style retreats, involving staff from one or more schools and districts. Mayfield High School in Las Cruces organized an optional, paid Saturday retreat at the end of the summer, which the majority of staff chose to attend. The retreat offered time to plan and regroup, plus a variety of presentations from staff who had attended other conferences. Administrators' attendance at the retreat demonstrated their strong support for staff efforts.
      On a citywide scale, Oklahoma City's Consortium to Restructure Education through Academic and Technological Excellence (CREATE) planned multischool and district school-to-work retreats in the summers of 1996 and 1997, based in part on the design of past NCRVE summer institutes. The Oklahoma City retreat offered presentations from local and outside experts, facilitators for team planning time and industry site visits to major local business partners.
      There are several advantages to this local strategy. An obvious one is cost. By staying local, more people can attend because there are few travel or lodging costs (except for invited presenters). Local businesses may be willing to provide refreshments, meeting space, and workplace tours. This brings up another important advantage of local events--the potential for involving a variety of stakeholders in your school-to-work efforts, including additional staff, postsecondary partners, parents, students, and business and community representatives. A retreat provides time for planning, learning, and team building among people who will be collaborating for the first time, as well as for colleagues who have worked together for years. And finally, unlike a national conference, a smaller conference or retreat can be custom tailored to fit your regional context.
      Based on recommendations from Urban Schools Network sites and lessons learned from past NCRVE institutes and meetings, here are several guidelines to help you get started in designing your own event. First, assemble a planning team with broad representation to bring diverse perspectives to the planning table and encourage buy-in. Begin planning by developing a theme for the retreat, and use this theme to drive your conference program. Consider the following four key features of a school-to-work retreat program:

1).

Plenary sessions, such as an opening or closing session, involve all retreat participants. This is the time to energize the group with a dynamic speaker who can convey the theme and purpose of your retreat, and the importance of school-to-work efforts in your region. This is also a good time for participants to hear from students, whose stories about their experiences may be particularly inspiring. Plenary sessions, a time when all participants are assembled in one place, make evident the sheer number and variety of people involved in these efforts.

2).

Presentations, workshops, and discussion groups, provide participants an opportunity for learning and applying new concepts and strategies. A retreat design might include two or three different session formats, such as more traditional presentations, interactive, hands-on workshops and discussion groups around a particular topic. Presenters for these sessions could include nationally recognized speakers as well as local talent--teachers, administrators, employers, and other community members. Session topics might include, but certainly are not limited to: "School-to-Work 101," integrated curriculum, assessment and evaluation, designing work-based learning experiences, developing partnerships with industry, alternative scheduling, grant writing, developing career clusters, consensus building, and change strategies.

3).

Team meetings, the third program feature, are a structured, facilitated, time for program planning and development. A team might include members of a career cluster, an academy, or collaborating faculty from a high school and community college. Facilitators, like presenters, may be local or from across the country. Oklahoma City's CREATE, which sponsored a multidistrict school-to-work retreat in June 1996, hired a cadre of local, regional, and national speakers who also served as facilitators during team meeting time. For some teams, a neutral outsider is the preferred facilitator, while for others a local facilitator, someone who can continue to work with the team throughout the year, is ideal. The product of team meeting time might be plans for a new career cluster, a draft articulation agreement, or a new integrated curriculum unit.

4).

Industry site visits, a final program feature, are particularly suited to local retreats. Industry site visits expose participants to workplace requirements in their region and may help forge new partnerships between educators and employers, resulting in future mentoring and work placement arrangements. To help participants profit from these visits, the retreat planning team can prepare guiding questions that target key information about the industry, skill requirements, workforce needs, and the like.

      The planning team will encounter several challenging design issues. How much time should be devoted to sessions, and how much time for team meetings? Should the retreat offer an intensive agenda that covers lots of ground in a short time, or a slower pace that allows time for reflection? The planning team may face a "breadth versus depth" dilemma: Should the program offer a broad sampling of topics through brief presentations? Or should it focus on a few topics in depth with half- or full-day workshops?

      Urban Schools Network Director, Erika Nielsen Andrew, explains:

One thing we wrestle with every time we plan an event is balancing a series of tradeoffs: time to learn vs. time to plan, hearing it from the `experts' vs. figuring it out in discussion groups, meeting everybody's needs vs. keeping it simple. These tradeoffs are not atypical of what classroom teachers grapple with every day. However, negotiating through these issues with a planning team is an important vision and consensus-building exercise for your summer event and your larger initiative. It helps you focus on what it will really take to transform schools in your community.

      In addition to setting up a planning team, determining a retreat theme, and designing program components such as sessions and site visits, additional planning issues to consider include a planning time line, retreat materials and handouts, marketing and publicity, speaker selection and hiring, training and compensation for facilitators, hospitality and refreshments, transportation and parking, adequate staffing for registration, meeting room setup and audio visual needs, and a process for evaluating the event and following up with presenters and participants.


REFERENCES

Lieberman, A. (1995). Practices that support teacher development. Phi Delta Kappan, 76 (8), 591-596.

McLaughlin, M. (1992). Enabling professional development: What have we learned? In A. Lieberman and L. Miller (Eds.), Staff development for education in the 90's (pp. 61-82). New York: Teachers College Press.

Sparks, D. & Hirsch, S. (1997). A new vision for staff development. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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