When I first started teaching in Hartford 8 years ago, all of the Professional Development (PD) planned for teachers was either district-based or school-based. The problem with both of those were that the focus was always about what everyone should be doing in the classroom and never individually tailored to the specific needs of the teacher. Then about 5 years into my tenure with the Hartford Public Schools, those PD's switched to being only school-based and not district based. I saw this as a step in the right direction, hoping that we'd be able to focus on issues that may be individual to each school or cluster/grouping of kids. But what I saw as a step in the right direction turned out more to be a shuffle-step to the side because all we ended up doing was having the same kind of subject-based PD but just as a school, in a smaller setting, still being force-fed information and curriculum that (because of time restraints) never had much of an impact on the teachers who were dealing with all their other variables in the classroom that weren't being addressed.
What I've learned along the way, from teaching for years in the same school system, as well as from my EDT classes throughout the years, is that PD is only helpful and successful when it is planned to target a specific need. Like good instruction in the classroom, PD has to be planned out thoughtfully in order to address the needs of both the students and the teacher. I say the needs of both students and teachers because it seems that all of the PD teachers are required to attend is directly related to student progress concerning with the curriculum in place for each grade level, but the PD sessions never address the numerous 'what if' scenarios that arise in many of the classrooms, most of the time being unique to that particular classroom environment. If PD is ever going to be a successful tool in Hartford then I believe the focus needs to be on what each school and group of grade-level teachers at that school need the most help with. Many of the programs and strategies introduced at PD could just as easily be delivered at school meetings or in the weekly email bulletin that is already sent out. Teachers might also take the PD days more seriously if they knew ahead of time that what was being covered would directly be helping them in the classroom and offering solutions to problems they may have encountered with the curriculum. Technology PD is something that teachers need to sign up for ahead of time, and are given CEUs for attending. I also think that mindset needs to change in Hartford, because if you only have technology PD being offered on a sign-up basis, that's either telling the teachers "it's okay if you don't use the technology we've provided you with" or "Have fun learning how to use the technology available to you if your schedule doesn't allow you to attend any of these sessions."
