educational services staff members who commit to working together to accomplish common goals and who are engaged in a continuous cycle of professional improvement focused on: • Evaluating student learning needs through ongoing review of data on student performance; and • Defining a clear set of educator learning goals based on the rigorous analysis of data on student performance. • Professional learning shall incorporate coherent, sustained, and evidence-based strategies that improve educator effectiveness and student achievement, such as jobembedded coaching or other forms of assistance to support educators’ transfer of new knowledge and skills to their work. • Professional learning may be supported by external expert assistance or additional experiences that: • Address defined student and educator learning goals. • Advance primarily ongoing school-based professional learning; and • Include, but are not limited to, courses, workshops, institutes, networks, and conferences provided by forprofit and nonprofit entities outside the school such as universities, educational service agencies, technical assistance providers, networks of content specialists, and other education organizations and associations. 52 – AR Handbook NJEA “Definition” of Professional Development NJEA believes that collaborative professional teams form the foundation of effective professional learning. Such teams should meet the following best practices principles: • Be organized and facilitated by well-prepared teacher leaders, educators, and other school staff. • Occur primarily within the school day several times per week. • Provide for reflection and feedback on the effectiveness of professional learning that leads to ongoing improvements in teaching and student learning. • Engage in a continuous cycle of improvement that: • analyzes student, teacher, and school learning needs through a thorough review of all school data. • helps individual teachers define a clear set of educator learning goals based on the rigorous analysis of data. • achieves such educator learning goals by implementing coherent, sustained, and evidencebased learning strategies that improve instructional effectiveness and student achievement. • provides classroombased collegial coaching, mentoring, and other forms of assistance with meaningful feedback to support the transfer of new knowledge and skills to the classroom. • regularly assesses the effectiveness of professional development in achieving identified learning goals and improving teaching and learning, while assisting all students in meeting the N.J. Core Curriculum Content Standards. • may be facilitated and strengthened by external assistance. • Are supported by sufficient resources to achieve the goals and objectives established by district and school planning committees and individual educators/staffers. Adopted by the NJEA Delegate Assembly on Sept. 19, 2015. New Jersey Standards for Professional Development The administrative code also includes very specific standards which should govern the effectiveness of the professional learning activities included in district, school, and individual educator plans. Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and improves results for all students shall be guided by the following standards: • Learning communities – Occurs within learning communities committed to continuous improvement, collective responsibility, and goal alignment. • Leadership – Requires skillful leaders who develop capacity, advocate, and create support systems for professional learning. • Resources – Requires prioritizing, monitoring, and coordinating resources for educator learning. • Learning designs – Integrates theories, research, and models of human learning to achieve its intended outcomes;
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