Telling the PD Travel Story Part 4

Dr Chris Baker, Director of Professional Development at Cabot Learning Federation

Chapter 6 - Impact  

 

And so, we arrive at the end of our story and the promised land of improved student outcomes. The logic pathway from PD inception to improved outcomes is not at all straightforward and is so multi-causal that drawing a direct line between the two may be impossible. There are however some intermediary steps that may be easier to measure, and in themselves may be a useful for PD leaders to reflect on. 

 

In 1976 Donald Kirkpatrick produced a taxonomy of data types that could be used to evaluate training programmes in organisations as well as other interventions such as coaching and mentoring. Despite its age, the model remains a benchmark tool for evaluation and has inspired several adaptations including Kaufman’s Model of Learning Evaluation (1994) and Guskey’s (2000) work on evaluating professional development in schools. The four levels of Kirkpatrick’s model are as follows:  


Level 1 – Reaction: How do the participants feel about the training activity/programme they attended? To what extent are they satisfied customers?   

  

Level 2 – Learning: To what extent have the participants learned the information and skills?  

  

Level 3 – Behaviour: To what extent has the participant’s job behaviour changed because of attending the training activity/programme?  

  

Level 4 – Results: To what extent have results been affected by the training activity/programme?  

  

Integrating similar levels of evaluation depth into PD QA processes may help PD leaders reach a deeper understanding other the effectiveness and impact of their PD activities / programmes. 

 

So what? What next?  

 

So how can the concept of a PD travel story add value? Well, if we want to draw links between PD and student outcomes then we need to acknowledge that the quality of PD is key to the strength of that link. I guess my hope is that reflecting on and narrating the story of an PD activity may lead to improvements in its design, enactment and impact. My plan is to formalise the conversation that drove the creation of this post into something that I can use more systematically with my PD leaders. Below is a link to a document that I am going to trial at various stages during the PD life cycle to guide the reflection and decision making of my PD leads. Feel free to give it a try yourselves and let me know how you get on! 

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