Why Spend Billions on Professional Development for Teachers?

Despite the billions that have been spent on professional development for K-12 teachers in the United States, we actually know extremely little about the characteristics of effective professional development programs. The major reason lies in deficiencies in the research on professional development. A major review in 2008 of the research on professional development for teachers of mathematics and of other subjects "uncovered no studies … of sufficient quality where the designs and measures perm

Despite the billions that have been spent on professional development for K-12 teachers in the United States, we actually know extremely little about the characteristics of effective professional development programs. The major reason lies in deficiencies in the research on professional development. A major review in 2008 of the research on professional development for teachers of mathematics and of other subjects "uncovered no studies … of sufficient quality where the designs and measures perm…