Professional Development...Calling for Change?!

I'm tired of looking at standardized test data during professional development sessions. I've been perusing data for years now, on and off, and I've never seen this approach prompt any significant change in school pedagogy. Same approach during PD, same results and attitudes in the classroom, same results come testing time.

What if...PD was geared towards challenging notions of teaching philosophy? Or it made people think and become uncomfortable (in a good way)? Take the following questions, for instance:

1. When you grade and assess students, is your feedback meaningful? Does it prompt students to improve specific skills? Do students take any part in assessing themselves and their peers? Do you grade papers in order to "bribe" students to complete work? Why?

2. What do you do to motivate students? Do you feel like students are unmotivated or motivated in your classroom? Why?

3. Besides standardized testing, what should we focus on in schools?

4. Do students have fun in your classroom? Does it matter? Do you believe that people learn more effectively if they're engaged with what they're doing?

5. What is the purpose of school? Do we rely on the government/bureacrats to define the purpose? Why? Does our school community have the courage to blaze new paths, be innovators, and create an exciting public school learning environment?

6. How do you change your teaching practice from year to year? What do you do that is most effective? How do you know?

The challenge with education leaders addressing these questions is that it often becomes personal, hits at the core values individual educators might hold dear. Tough, I say. Complacency is easy. Constructively challenging teaching and learning philosophy on the individual and school level is tricky, but it can result in substantial evolution.