The Professional Development (enormous waste)

Recently I read that the total cost of PD as an average of 3 districts and one large charter agency was $18,000 per student per year.  Yet any positive results from this expenditure were minimal at best.

So why is PD such a waste?
Why are results minimal at best?

Because the current gurus of ed reform, who make the PD decisions, are "not into the details of teaching".

In most places the leadership is top down and uses blanket policy enforcement.  There is no  regard for those that are doing the work (teachers) and no regard for those that are supposed to be learning (students).''

With the profusion of early release and late start days intruding on the daily schedule, one must wonder if there is any regard for parents.

Teachers are over-burdened with time consuming top-down mandates that have nothing to do with the "details of teaching effectively".  It is as if the gurus think great instruction can take place without time or effort. This is a major reason that PD is an enormous waste.  PD is time consuming and adds nothing but non-productive burdens to teachers lives in most cases.

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"The Mirage," :Confronting the Hard Truth about Our Quest for Teacher Development
Click "The Mirage" above for a 68 page .pdf download of that report.