Principal Sweeney is bought in to the idea of using much of his scheduled professional development time–indeed, the majority of that time–to letting his teachers practice teaching. Whether he's introducing a new lesson planning framework or trying to promote a new instructional skill, he's committed to giving his teachers the space to try it out. He also knows that a key component of the processing of improvement is feedback. This Mini tracks Principal Sweeney's new and bold plan to not only implement practice-based PD, but also to promote a robust practice-feedback loop in his school.
This 2014 study examined the effectiveness of individual teacher coaching as a professional development strategy. Researchers found that teachers who received direct, individual coaching and feedback on their practice made significant gains, and that those gains persisted year over year.