What professional learning opportunities have state departments of education provided to help educators implement their new college- and career-readiness standards?

1. Professional
Development
January 2015
Findings across states from SREB’s
Benchmarking State Implementation of
College- and Career-Readiness
Standards, Aligned Assessments
and Related Reforms

2. 2|
Contents
Professional
Development
What professional learning opportunities have state
departments of education provided to help educators
implement their new college- and career-readiness
standards?
Criteria
Delaware
Tennessee
Goals, approaches
Major initiatives
Tailored for leaders
Sustainability
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
page 3 page 4 page16
Participating
states
Findings
across states
Highlights from
leading states Methodology
More about
these reports
page 9 page17

3. 3|
Benchmarking
College- and
Career-Readiness
Standards
Participating states
Louisiana
Maryland
Mississippi
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
West Virginia
Other regions
Colorado
New York
Pennsylvania
Florida participated in preliminary (March 2014) but not final reports.
This SREB project supports
states in the monumental
task of implementing higher
statewide standards by
tracking progress and
bringing states together to
learn from and collaborate
with one another.
SREB region
Alabama
Delaware
Georgia
Kentucky
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards

4. 4|
Goals and
approaches
Capacity and collaboration
All 14 state departments of
education designed their
professional development
initiatives to build local capacity
so districts and schools could lead
implementation themselves 
training trainers, for example, or
emphasizing professional learning
communities.
Several states structured offerings
to maximize the impact of the
small staff at the department.
States vary greatly in how far
their efforts reached into districts
and schools  and in how
systematically the state
departments of education
collaborated with districts, schools
and local teachers to integrate
professional development.
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
All states in this study
provided initial training and
offer at least some ongoing
support.
Interviewees in state
departments of education
shared that they have
engaged with local educators
more intensively than ever
before  and provided more
professional learning in
response to unprecedented
requests for support.

5. 5|
Major initiatives All 14 states provided initial
training to help educators learn
about the new standards,
prepare for implementation and
help educators be successful
over the long haul.
At the district level
All 14 departments offered
training for district leadership
teams, who were then
responsible for leading local
implementation.
At the school level
Deep work with school teams
was at the heart of these PD
efforts:
• Delaware’s Common Ground
for the Common Core initiative
• Maryland’s Educator
Effectiveness Academies
• Tennessee’s TNCore and
Core Coaches initiatives
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
All 14 states provided initial
training plus ongoing
training and support.
Notable efforts in some
states included additional
work at the school and
teacher levels.
At the teacher level
All of the states offered some
type of training directly to
teachers. State departments with
the most extensive offerings
were Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi and Tennessee.
For example, Louisiana’s
Teacher Leader Cadre has
provided training to 6,500
teachers to serve as leaders and
trainers at their home schools.
And Tennessee’s Core
Coaches initiative trained more
than 1,300 teachers to lead
statewide training that in turn
reached 55,000 participants.

6. 6|
Major initiatives Fostering collaboration
The Alabama State Department
of Education created district
implementation teams of
administrators and teachers.
After quarterly training with the
department, they lead PD for
schools in their districts.
Regional planning teams bring
together leaders from regional in-
service centers, the Alabama
Math, Science and Technology
Initiative, the Alabama Reading
Initiative, higher education, early
childhood, and career and
technical education. Nearly 300
regional content specialists then
provide ongoing support to
districts and schools.
In Kentucky, the department’s
District Leadership Teams built
job-specific leadership networks
for practitioners from a variety of
role groups.
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
All 14 state departments of
education provided initial
training, ongoing training
and support, and some
training for district
leadership teams.
Some states also fostered
notable collaborations.
Mississippi increased PD
resources for local educators
through collaboration among the
legislature, state board of
education, state department of
education and regional centers.
After a Joint Legislative
Committee on Performance
Evaluation and Expenditure
Review report outlined the
department’s implementation
efforts, the state board funded
additional staff at Alabama’s
regional education service
agencies. The RESAs are
providing training and tools with a
goal of reaching most of the
state’s 34,000 educators.
Georgia, Louisiana,
Pennsylvania and Tennessee
also made notable efforts to
promote collaboration across role
groups and levels.

7. 7|
Major initiatives Literacy Design Collaborative,
Mathematics Design
Collaborative
Six states in the study used LDC
and MDC, which allow teachers
to plan and share lessons 
aligned to the standards  that
integrate literacy in academic
subjects and foster reasoning
and problem-solving in math.
The Delaware Department of
Education trained high school
teachers and district Reading
and Math Cadre content
specialists on LDC tools to
embed literacy in tasks in
different subjects.
Georgia and Kentucky trained
teachers, leaders and others in
the majority of their districts.
Colorado provides training to
targeted districts, with plans to
scale the work statewide.
.Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
All 14 state departments of
education provided initial
training, ongoing training
and support, and some
training for district
leadership teams.
Some states used the
Literacy Design and
Math Design
collaboratives.
Colorado and Kentucky
partnered on the Common
Assignment Study initiative.
High-performing teachers from
both states meet to collaborate
on units that align to both states’
standards, embed LDC and MDC
modules and provide models for
teachers. Partner states have
developed criteria and guidance
to support expanding this work.
In Pennsylvania, intermediate
units (regional education service
agencies) provided LDC and
MDC training. The state
department of education uploads
teaching resources teachers
produce during training to its
online resource bank.
The West Virginia Department
of Education includes LDC and
MDC in its training modules for
RESAs to use in their work with
local districts across the state.

8. 8|
Online,
on-demand
All of the 14 states in the study
offer combinations of guidance,
tools, courses, self-paced
modules, and videos of exemplary
instruction in action.
States with notable online, on-
demand professional learning
resources are Georgia,
Kentucky, Louisiana and
Tennessee.
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
Tennessee, for example, offers
educators an extensive array of
online professional learning
resources for use on a voluntary,
on-demand basis through its
Electronic Learning Center and
TNCore Web portal.
All of the states offer
educators access to online,
on-demand, supplementary
professional development
resources.

9. 9|
Tailored for leaders The Maryland Department of
Education provided training to
principals from every school in
the state during Educator
Effectiveness Academies. In
addition, the department:
• designed summer sessions for
leaders based on visits to
every district to meet with
principals and visit classrooms
• paired leaders in small districts
with those in larger districts for
sharing and collaboration
• provides job-embedded
support for principals in the
state’s lowest-performing
districts and Title I schools
through the Maryland
Breakthrough Center
Assistant superintendents meet
with the department monthly, as
do district leaders who supervise
principals.
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
Most commonly, states added
breakout sessions at summer
trainings or added to regular
leadership training. Seven
states also offered more
extensive learning for leaders:
Delaware, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, South
Carolina and Tennessee.
In Delaware, 100 principals
participate in job-embedded
coaching in collaboration with
the Delaware Business
Roundtable, Rodel Foundation
and University of Delaware.
Tennessee’s TNCore
trainings tailor learning for
leaders, and the Common
Core Leadership Course
helps leaders learn more
about implementing standards
and observing instruction.
All states in the study offered
professional learning specifically
for district staff and principals
(though support for leaders has
not been as extensive as for
teachers).
Notable state efforts are
highlighted here.

10. 10|
Sustainability Many of the states had special
funding to bolster their early
initiatives. All of the leading states
had won Race to the Top grants,
and a few also received grants
from private foundations..
Now, four years into the work of
supporting local implementation of
the standards, states grapple with
how to shape future PD
initiatives to foster success over
the long term.
Scaling back
In several states, the department
plans to continue initiatives, but in
scaled-back form. Possible
modifications include online, on-
demand training and tools, and
shifting responsibility for
support from the state to districts
and schools.
Adding on
In Delaware, the department will
continue Common Ground for
the Common Core institutes and
follow-ups with guiding teams.
Maryland worked with 200 Master
Teachers to deliver PD at summer
conferences. The department
posted all resources from its
Educator Effectiveness
Academies online and is
developing new courses schools
can use for local needs.
In Mississippi, the state Board of
Education approved funding for
additional PD staff at the state’s
RESAs.
In Tennessee, the state
Department of Education
launched a STEM Leadership
Council to develop STEM-based
PD across the state.
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
States are grappling with
how to sustain their
professional development
efforts when grant funding
ends.
Some states are cutting
back; others are
expanding.

11. 11|
Leading states  Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Maryland and Tennessee  stood out on these criteria.
Collaboration and structure, initial and ongoing
The department collaborated with regional education service centers
and other entities to provide initial training.
The department continues to provide ongoing support, including:
• Intensive and systematic collaboration with local educators to
support school leaders, district leaders, teachers and higher
education faculty
• Professional learning for large numbers of individual teachers
statewide, in addition to trainings for schools and district teams
• Substantial, targeted professional learning for principals and
district staff
Comprehensive content
• ELA and math for K-12
• Literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects in
grades six through 12
• Differentiation of instruction for diverse learners
• Formative assessment
• How the new standards relate to other major reforms
Extensive online supplementary professional learning resources
Leading states
Criteria
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
Leading states are noted for
the most comprehensive
and coordinated efforts.
Their work offers models
other states may find useful.

12. 12|
Highlights from
leading states
Delaware
Collaboration with school and district teams
Following some initial training for educators around the state, the
department worked with a steering committee of stakeholders including
the state Board of Education, the teachers union, and higher education
to design the Common Ground for the Common Core initiative, which
began in 2013.
Schools and districts each designate a guiding team of teachers and
administrators, who participate in several full-day and multi-day
professional learning institutes throughout the year. Teams from 143
traditional schools and a few charter schools participated voluntarily,
representing 17 of the state’s 19 districts. The department works with
partners, including Achieve, Student Achievement Partners, the
International Reading Association, Solution Tree and Expeditionary
Learning, to design and deliver the institutes.
Face-to-face, monthly meetings with guiding teams complement the
institutes. Department staff offer additional training and feedback, and
guiding teams discuss progress and identify areas of strength and
needs for improvement.
Common Ground for the Common Core 2.0 launched in 2014-15,
adding a focus on assessment, performance tasks, Professional
Learning Communities, and response-to-intervention practices.
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
Delaware stands out for its
training and support for
leaders as well as for
extensive collaboration
between the state
department of education
and leadership teams at
the school and district
levels.

13. 13|
Highlights from
leading states
Delaware
For leaders
Principals: The department works with partners such as the Delaware
Business Roundtable Education Committee, the Rodel Foundation and
the University of Delaware on four job-embedded coaching projects.
More than 100 principals work with a coach to develop their knowledge
of the Common Core as well as their skills in instructional leadership,
change management, and implementing the state’s new teacher
evaluation system.
District staff: Through Math and Reading Cadres, English language
arts and math content specialists from all Delaware districts collaborate
monthly with the department to receive professional learning and to plan
and develop supports for practitioners. Cadre members serve as
instructional leaders in their home districts.
Sustainability
Much of the work is supported by Delaware’s Race to the Top grant,
which will continue through 2014-15. To sustain efforts beyond the
grant, the department plans to engage with the U.S. Department of
Education Reform Support Network’s Sustainability Workgroup and
to cement efforts through professional learning communities in
schools statewide.
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
Delaware stands out for its
training and support for
leaders as well as for
extensive collaboration
between the state
department of education
and leadership teams at
the school and district
levels.

14. 14|
Highlights from
leading states
Tennessee
Common Core Leadership Council
The Tennessee Department of Education launched a Common Core
Leadership Council in 2012 to advise it on all aspects of implementing
the new standards and assessments. The council is made up of
principals, supervisors and superintendents — 22 members
represented all regions in the state. Department staff consult with the
council at regular meetings to discuss ongoing efforts, track progress
and address challenges.
Professional learning for school teams and district staff
The TNCore initiative, which began in 2012 and continued through
summer 2014, provided local educators and leaders PD and support to
lead implementation at their home schools. The department recruited
1,370 local educators to serve as Core Coaches. To prepare them to
deliver TNCore training to educators around the state, Core Coaches
received intensive training and support.
In regional multi-day summer sessions, teachers followed specific
learning tracks by grade level and subject. School teams and district
staff participated in follow-up sessions throughout the school year. In
2013, the department invited higher education faculty to attend
sessions designed for them.
By the last session in summer 2014, approximately 55,000 had
attended TNCore trainings.
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
Tennessee’s approach to
professional learning
stands out for the
extensive involvement of
local educators in
planning and providing
training, and for the large
numbers of practitioners
who have participated.

15. 15|
Highlights from
leading states
Tennessee
Professional learning for school teams and district staff
The department launched a year-long Common Core Reading Course
for teachers in fall 2013. Over 5,000 teachers participated in 2013-14
and the course continues in 2014-15.
A STEM Leadership Council of individuals from industry, higher
education and K-12 began in spring 2014 to develop STEM trainings
and professional development across the state.
Professional development for leaders
The department offers a Common Core Leadership Course
specifically for principals, assistant principals and district supervisors.
Approximately 70 percent of school-level administrators in the state
have taken the course. In 2014 the department began offering
advanced courses for more experienced leaders.
Local administrators are trained to serve as Common Core
Leadership Coaches and deliver six full days of training during the
school year.
Tennessee’s Electronic Learning Center and TNCore Web portal
offer educators an extensive array of professional learning resources.
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
Tennessee’s approach to
professional learning
stands out for the
extensive involvement of
local educators in
planning and providing
training, and for the large
numbers of practitioners
who have participated.

16. 16|
Methodology SREB examined efforts of state
departments of education to
support implementation of college-
and career-readiness standards,
assessments and related reforms.
Researchers looked at how states
provided guidance, tools and
support for teachers and for
school and district leaders.
SREB worked with a point person
in each of the 14 state
departments of education.
Timeframe
The SREB reports reflect state
efforts and plans between 2010
and summer 2014.
These January 2015 final reports
replace preliminary ones
published in March 2014.
A team of SREB researchers
and consultants gathered
information from:
Reviews of publicly available
information: Researchers
reviewed state policy documents
and reports, state department of
education websites, and other
sources such as U.S. Department
of Education reports.
Interviews: Researchers
interviewed leaders from state
departments of education, state
boards of education, unions,
higher education, and business
and community organizations, as
well as legislators’ and governors’
staff, teachers, principals and
district superintendents.
Each state department reviewed
drafts to ensure accuracy.
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards

17. 17|
Full reports
More information
Professional Development | Benchmarking College- and Career-Readiness Standards
Find all reports at SREB.org/1600 >
Six detailed final reports were
published in January 2015. Slide
documents of report highlights,
like this one, are also available for
each report.
Cross-State Findings
Trends across the states, perspectives
from the field and suggestions for
moving forward
Details on each state's efforts in
five areas:
Timeline and Approach to
Standards and Assessments
Aligned Teaching Resources
Professional Development
Evaluation of Teachers
and Leaders
Accountability
Kim Anderson, Director
Benchmarking College- and
Career-Readiness Standards
404-875-9211
Kim.Anderson@SREB.org

18. Southern Regional Education Board
592 10th St. N.W.
Atlanta, GA 30318-5776 SREB.org