The Open Book Initiative: Professional Development

"If teachers are to successfully teach all students to high standards, virtually everyone who affects student learning must be learning virtually all the time."(Sparks, 2000) This means that teacher learning is not confined to the workshop training experience. Key to teacher learning, The Open Book Initiative provides an evaluation procedure that provides the basis for transferring workshop content into the classroom through a teacher planned evaluation process. Ultimately, evaluation of teacher training will be reflected in the assessment outcomes of their teaching and their students' learning.

By responding to key evaluative questions that go beyond the typical workshop evaluation of room and presenter, teachers define how they plan to document their own learning and their students' learning.

Goals:

• Trainers will clearly identify their training goals, communicate these to the teachers, and use to guide their instruction and presentation.
  
• Teachers will improve knowledge of scientifically based reading research.
  
• Teachers will demonstrate application of identified reading instruction methods.
  

Structure:

• During professional staff development, teachers are guided to identify key learning, strategies, and teaching methods that they will use to improve their reading instruction.
  
• Together with their colleagues, teachers answer key questions that provide a working plan to guide the implementation and assessment of their reading instruction.
  
• Both student learning and assessment of their learning are identified in the plan.
  

This evaluation process is intricately tied to the Initiative program evaluation (TIMES, University of Houston). All trainers are apprised of the evaluation process and their roles in leading, implementing, and assisting teachers with the development of their instructional evaluation plans.

Assessment/Evaluation:

Trainers are made aware of The Open Book Initiative goals and likewise, the trainers' goals are used as the basis for the assessment of teacher knowledge prior to training and after the teachers have applied their knowledge in their classrooms.

• Teacher knowledge assessment will take place via paper and pencil prior to training and following training.
  
• Classroom observations will provide evaluation of teacher practice prior to training and following training.
  

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