Disrupting Professional Development: The Case for Cost-Effectiveness

(Part 4 in a 5-Part Professional Development Series)

I recently started researching the average cost of professional development for teachers. It really wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. However, I managed to pull up a figure that certainly got my attention. According to ­­­­­the TNTP Mirage Executive Summary, the authors found that the average cost of professional development for teachers within three large districts they studied was $18,000.

My first question was “How?” I was thinking only of the cost for the actual conference, workshop, seminar, etc. Yet, if you look at all of the costs associated with professional development, it is easy to see how the total cost per teacher makes sense. Although not hidden, much of the total cost of professional development is paid via different account codes within the school entity’s budget. This explains the large expenditure paid per teacher for professional development experiences.

In looking at professional development, there are four significant cost factors that comprise total cost. These factors include salaries, models of professional development, resources needed for professional development, and incidental expenditures.

1. Salaries include the per diem rate of teachers and/or administrators. They include the contracted rate of payment or stipend for work outside of the contracted day. Salaries also include substitute teacher pay for classroom coverage as needed.

2. Models of professional development include graduate courses, conferences, seminars, workshops, online courses, and webinars. They include train-the-trainer, in-house training, and the customized approach of contracting experts for coaching or consultative services.

3. Resources needed for professional development may include specific materials or equipment for the session. It may also entail rental of facilities when needed.

4. Incidental expenditures include travel, meals, and lodging costs when applicable.

When considering the four cost factors associated with professional development, it is difficult to disrupt in order to make it more cost-effective for school entities. Most of these areas are predetermined based on contracts or other external influences. So, the question remains: How can professional development be disrupted to make it more cost-effective? The answer lies in one of the cost factors.

Cost of professional development can successfully be disrupted when addressing the second cost factor, models of professional development. We need to create a new construct of professional development that can be utilized by educators in a cost-effective manner. Professional DevelAppment is a new way to provide continued learning experiences for educators and yields significant cost savings. It uses an eLearn platform that allows participants to learn about current and relevant educational initiatives through the use of their own devices.

Through the use of Professional DevelAppment, educators are now able to disrupt the current costs of professional development. It not only reduces the cost of the actual session of professional development, but it can reduce the cost of salaries for substitute teachers as they would not be needed, as well as eliminate the costs for resources and incidental expenses. Professional DevelAppment provides more opportunities for continued learning by using the following cost-saving principles.

Professional DevelAppment is cost-effective because it focuses upon job embedment.

It is well-known that educators have been required to attain a certain allotment of hours of continued education in order to keep their teaching certificates active. What this may have amounted to is seat time for educators where they learn about an educational initiative. When professional development is focused upon seat time, the amount of content becomes the focus, which can result in ineffective application of learned objectives within instructional delivery. In order to intentionally shift the focus of professional development to job embedment, we need to create sessions that reduce the seat time of learning, narrowing its focus, as well as increase time for implementation of what has been learned. By shifting the focus from sitting to applying, we can reduce the costs of salary for substitute teachers, keep costs for regular salaries within the estimated budget, use any resources for classroom instruction, and eliminate any incidental expenditures.

Professional DevelAppment is cost-effective because it is purposeful and customized for the user.

Too often, educators receive the same professional development experience regardless of their specific roles and responsibilities within the school entity. We need to look at implementation of educational initiatives through a five-step framework of program development. Those five steps include research, planning, implementation, evaluation and feedback, and ongoing support. When focusing professional development within this five-step framework, it is easier to customize the experience for the user and tailor it to fit roles and responsibilities within the school system. Through the focus and customization of professional development, school entities can greatly reduce costs for continued education for educators by purchasing only what is needed for the individual educator as teacher, administrator, or staff member.

Professional DevelAppment is cost-effective because educators are empowered to choose their own path of continued learning.

As educational initiatives are addressed through timely segments, school entities are empowered to choose the topic, to choose the participants, and to choose the timing of delivery. Professional development becomes cost-effective when it is possible to pay for one segment for one participant, three segments for another participant, or 10 segments for another. It becomes cost-effective when choosing a specific segment of an educational initiative for one teacher, for a pilot group, or for the entire school entity of employees. Professional development becomes cost-effective when it can be purchased for an early dismissal day, throughout the school year during faculty meetings, or when new staff are hired. Professional DevelAppment is centered upon the user and can be delivered to meet the school entity’s timeframe. This is a great cost-saving principle as it allows school entities to deal with inclement weather, absences, or any other unforeseen circumstance that interrupts professional development delivery. Professional DevelAppment provides the flexibility for any schedule and gives the user exactly what they pay for within their own timeline.

We are at a point in time where people want more for less. It is time that we disrupt the current parameters of professional development costs and make them more affordable for all.

Dr. Paula Westerman is founder and chief executive officer of DevelApped, West Educator Applications, LLC, a Pennsylvania-based firm that addresses the professional development needs of educators through a unique platform using disruption innovation. Having served in Pennsylvania public schools for over 25 years, Dr. Westerman brings her extensive educational experience as a central office administrator, secondary and elementary building administrator, and elementary teacher to provide consulting services for educators on current and relevant initiatives that will help school entities transform their programs to improve student learning and achievement.

Sources

Odden, A., Archibald, S., Fermanich, M., and Gallagher, H. A Cost Framework for Professional Development. (Summer, 2002). Retrieved from http://outlier.uchicago.edu/computerscience/OS4CS/landscapestudy/resources/Odden-Archibald-Fermanich-and-Gallagher-2002.pdf

TNTP Reimagine Teaching. The Mirage Confronting the Hard Truth About Our Quest for Teacher Development. (2015). Retrieved from https://tntp.org/publications/view/the-mirage-confronting-the-truth-about-our-quest-for-teacher-development