Characteristics of Public School Teachers' Professional Development Activities: 1999-2000

Using data from the 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), this Issue Brief shows how prevalent various features of professional development activities were among public school teachers. During the 1999–2000 school year, teachers were asked about their professional development activities during the previous 12 months. Some 59 percent of public school teachers participated in professional development focused on content in the subject matter they taught and 73 percent participated in professional development focused on methods of teaching. A majority of teachers reported receiving eight or fewer hours of professional development in either subject matter content or teaching methods. In terms of the format of professional development activities, 95 percent of teachers attended a workshop, conference, or other training session in the previous year, compared with 42 percent who participated in mentoring, peer observation, or coaching. Seventy-four percent of teachers participated in regularly scheduled collaboration with other teachers on issues of instruction. SASS asked school principals to report on how important various influences were on the determination of teacher professional development activities. More than half of public school principals reported a school improvement plan or state or local academic standards as very important influences on determining the content of teacher professional development activities; 26 percent of principals called teacher preferences a very important influence.

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