Teacher Professional Development: Complete Guide

Professional development (PD) is an important aspect of the career of teachers and other educational professionals. PD is not only required to renew your state teacher license but is also a prerequisite for career growth, salary raise, staying up to date with trends and technology in the sector, and better serving the ever-evolving needs of your students inside and outside the classroom. Still, there is a certain degree of uncertainty or even confusion about what exactly teacher professional development means, what counts and what doesn’t count as PD, and how to meet the state requirements.

Looking for the most comprehensive solutions for professional development by educators for fellow educators? Check out SimplyPD. You can connect with teachers and other educational professionals nationwide to provide, get, or simply exchange experiences on PD opportunities.

What Teacher Professional Development Is

In the US educational system, K-12 teachers are required to complete a certain number of professional development hours per year or every 3-5 years in order to retain their state-issued teaching certification. This prerequisite is grounded in the concept that good public and private schools can only be built by educators who are continuously improving their theoretical knowledge and practical skills so that they correspond to current best practices and trends in the sector. In other words, teachers who are ceaselessly advancing their expertise and abilities are better prepared to meet the needs of students, inside and outside the classroom.

While teacher PD is a universal necessity in the US, each state has its own requirements in terms of hours and activities that qualify. Thus, it’s important for educators to check the specific prerequisites in their own state to make sure that they are on the path to successfully renewing their license when the time comes.

How Teacher Professional Development Works

Professional development for teachers is designed in a way that provides value to multiple stakeholders including the school and the district, the student body, and the teachers themselves. This means that teacher PD topics and modules need to align with the needs of all these parties to maximize efficiency and impact.

The process associated with teacher professional development requires the following steps:

• Familiarize yourself with the state requirements: Before you enroll in any PD classes or courses, it’s important to know how many hours you need and what qualifies as professional development for teachers in your state.
• Assess the current skills of the teacher: You can use different methods, including self-assessment, feedback from colleagues and supervisors, and formal evaluations, to get a snapshot of where you stand at the moment. This will help you identify the areas of improvement that are most needed.
• Analyze student and school needs: To engage in effective PD activities, you also need to know what your school and your students need that’s currently not offered by you and other educators within the institution.
• Identify the gap: Once you know the skills that are available and the expertise that is required but might be missing, it’s easy to find relevant topics for teacher PD that make the most sense for you and your colleagues.
• Set up SMART goals for professional development: The next step is to establish PD goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
• Search for the most relevant opportunities: When you know what type of teacher professional development you need, it’s time to start looking for available classes, courses, workshops, and other ways to up your knowledge and skills as an educator.
• Implement the plan: Next, you need to attend the actual PD.
• Start using the new skills right away: You should make it a goal to immediately start applying the newly learnt and developed skills in your daily work with students. In this way, you can solidify the newly gained knowledge and test its impact on real-life situations at school.
• Measure progress: Finally, it’s key to continuously measure the skill improvement that you are getting as a result of the PD courses. There is no point in spending time and school financial resources to only fulfill the state license renewal requirements without obtaining any measurable benefit.

By implementing this step-by-step professional development process, you will make sure that you are using your time and energy and the school’s money in the most efficient way.

What Qualifies as Teacher Professional Development 

There is a wide range of educational and skill-building activities that meet the formal requirements for professional development for teachers. 

The activities that count towards teacher PD hours include:

• College courses including undergraduate and graduate university courses related to school-taught subjects, education, pedagogy, and other relevant PD topics
• Certification programs that bring additional teaching certifications or advanced skills, such as online instruction, special education, education technology, etc.
• Micro-credentialing which refers to obtaining a specialized certification in a specific area through a short, targeted program. Topics can include trauma-informed teaching, blended learning strategies, and others.
• Educational workshops, seminars, and webinars that focus on subject matters, classroom management, curriculum development, assessment, and others and often provide hands-on learning experiences for teachers and other educators
• Educational conferences and events that bring together fellow educators from around the state or the nation to learn about new developments in education, exchange ideas, and learn from peers
• Training on cultural competency and equity that aims to provide teachers with the skills they need to enable inclusive classrooms where diversity is respected and valued
• In-service education and training (INSET) days when teachers are provided with formal training by the school or the district over the course of a few days with students not being present at school
• Staff meetings with educational focus where instructional coaching, skills development, curriculum updates, and other PD activities are offered
• Serving on school or district educational committees such as curriculum review, advanced academic programs, special education, human resources, school health, and others
• Collaboration within the district or between districts that targets learning from and offering knowledge to peers through the exchange of experiences and ideas and discussing strategies and trends
• Professional learning communities (PLCs) that bring together a group of educators for regular meetings to share experiences, discuss best practices, and look for optional solutions to common problems inside and outside the classroom
• Online professional learning networks (PLNs) that are large communities of teachers and other educational professionals who use online forums and platforms to discuss challenges and to exchange experiences, resources, and ideas
• Book study groups where teachers read and discuss books on relevant topics such as educational theory, teaching methods, classroom management practices, formal assessments, and others
• Online courses that can cover a wide range of topics, formats, and durations. Many of these courses are delivered by top experts in the field, and this can be your cost-efficient opportunity to learn from the best in a timeframe that suits your schedule.
• Education podcasts that provide teacher professional development hours while giving educators an opportunity to learn new strategies and improve their skills across different areas in a continuous manner, while also having fun listening to experts in the field from the comfort of their home, car, or anywhere else
• Individual and collaborative research on education-related topics where you conduct investigations, data collection, and analysis and share your conclusions with peers
• Action research which refers to educators’ analyzing their own teaching skills and practices via self-reflection, question posing, and data collection in an attempt to improve their methods in the classroom
• Presenting at educational conferences where you deliver a keynote speech, present a topic within your expertise, discuss your research, or lead a workshop
• Writing and publishing educational content such as publishing an education- or subject-focused book, research paper, or article in a professional journal
• Classroom observation where teachers (usually new ones) attend the classes of more experienced colleagues to learn from their classroom methods and practices
• Peer mentoring where new teachers are paired with a more experienced peer to receive guidance and support

Meanwhile, the following types of activities do not quality as PD:

• Class preparation time
• Regular faculty meetings
• Volunteering at school events
• Training and professional development modules not focused on the educator profession (for example, language courses not taught at school, business skills, sports, etc.)

While all these activities can count as teacher professional development, it’s important to confirm that your selected options qualify in your state. Some states might have more and less generous understandings as to what counts as PD.

Why Teacher Professional Development Is Important

In addition to being a formal requirement to have your state-issued teacher certificate, professional development for teachers matters in many other days as it brings tangible benefits to teachers themselves, their schools, and their students.

The main reasons why teacher PD is important include:

• Fulfilling the state license renewal requirements: First and foremost, a certain number of PD hours are required for renewing your teacher certification, which is a must in order to work in K-12 public and private schools across the nation.
• Filling gaps in teacher-preparation programs: As courses and programs that prepare teachers focus mostly on the subject matter, new teachers frequently lack additional skills they need to deliver instruction effectively and engage students in the classroom.
• Staying up to date on trends and new technology in education: The education sector is experiencing ongoing developments driven by the changing needs of students and technology solutions designed to address them. Teachers need to be familiar with recent trends to be useful to their students.
• Having the skills to handle challenging situations in the classroom: Additional training can provide educators with various capabilities that help them manage difficult situations related to violence, trauma, racism, and many other problems at school. For instance, they can be trained in applying alternatives to suspension for better outcomes for everyone.
• Creating opportunities for salary raise and career advancement: As they gain additional skills and certifications, teachers become eligible for pay raises as well as for advancing along the career ladder.
• Networking with other educators: Teacher professional development events help educators meet and connect with other professionals from the industry to build long-lasting relationships and collaboration opportunities.
• Avoiding teacher burnout: Through PD, teachers can focus on classes and courses that help them manage stress and skip burnout, so professional development can serve as a teacher retention strategy for schools and districts.
• Providing students with better educational opportunities: The ultimate goal of professional development for teachers is to offer students access to more qualified educators who are better suited to address their educational and emotional needs and to provide the support they need inside and outside the classroom.

These important benefits make it obvious why teacher professional development is such an important element within a well-functioning educational system.

What Kinds of Teacher Professional Development Are Effective

While teacher PD is crucial, not all types and activities achieve the same high-impact results. Thus, you and your school should carefully choose the professional development events that you enroll in to maximize the benefit for yourself, your school, and your students.

The most effective kinds of professional development for teachers typically include:

• Instructional practices-focused PD: Research shows that professional development that builds skills in instructional practices works better than PD that offers subject-specific content. Teachers are already familiar with the subject matter but usually need assistance in delivering instruction to students in a way that boosts engagement and final results.
• Focused PD topics and materials: PD activities that concentrate on a clearly defined subject area provide more value than such that handle general topics with no specific focus.
• Job-embedded professional development: Teacher PD that comes from the workplace, such as in-service days, district collaboration, faculty exchanges, and peer mentoring, usually offers high value to recipients. The reason is that your school and district know best what is missing in terms of skills and needs to be filled in for.
• Collaborative professional development: PD that is based on work with peers, such as PLCs, PLNs, and classroom observation, tends to produce good results too. After all, teachers frequently face similar challenges and needs as their peers, so they can best help each other fill in any gaps.
• PD with proper follow-up: To be fully effective, professional development for teachers and other educators has to come with regular follow-up to ensure that the expected results have been achieved and to take additional actions if this is not the case.

Having said that, usually the best results in teacher professional development are achieved when a mix of a few different types, topics, and modules is used.

Teacher Professional Development Solutions

With hundreds of in-person and online professional development options for teachers, it’s important to choose the one that best fits your situation, your school needs, and your learning style.

Some of the best professional development for teachers, including entirely free and very affordable options, available to educators across the US include:

1. SimplyPD

SimplyPD offers a unique solution for professional development for teachers. It functions as an online marketplace for professional development within the education sector allowing teachers, principals, superintendents, and other professionals to offer and receive PD from peers. Whether you have knowledge and expertise that you want to share with peers or you need to polish your own skills, you are guaranteed to find what you are looking for at SimplyPD.

2. Fullmind Learning Can’t Wait Podcast

Learning Can’t Wait, the Fullmind education podcast, is the best free professional development solution for busy educators who can only allocate a couple of hours per week to PD. The podcast host Hayley Spira-Baue covers a diverse range of topics that features experts who provide teachers with actionable tips on how to innovate education to stimulate student engagement. The best part is that you can earn PD hours by listening to an episode and filling in the simple online Podcast Reflection Form.

3. edWeb

edWeb is one of the biggest providers of webinars for K-12 teachers and other educators that come along with CE certificates. The website gives teachers the opportunity to attend live webinars or watch recordings at their convenience. In addition, educators can join different online communities to further collaborate with peers and expand their professional development work. edWeb covers a range of topics relevant to teachers and school administrators.

4. SimpleK12

SimpleK12 is another professional development solution for teachers and educators that offers professional learning courses created by education experts. Courses are available for individual teachers as well as entire school districts. Educators can access live virtual workshops and custom on-demand training. With SimpleK12, teachers can choose from over 1,500 courses across various subjects, grade levels, and skill sets.

5. Professional Learning Board

Professional Learning Board offers online PD courses for teachers and schools. The available courses are specifically designed to meet the requirements for teacher license renewal by state. Online courses are generally affordable and come with a Certificate of Completion and a free PD tracker. Professional Learning Board courses cover dozens of options across different topics including both subject matters and general skills of value to teachers.

Bottom Line on Teacher Professional Development

Teacher professional development is not only obligatory for license renewal but also crucially important for providing teachers with the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to excel at their position and to offer students the best possible instruction and emotional support. However, enrolling in just about any course or class will not do the trick. You have to carefully select options that align with your skill gap and the needs of your school, district, and students. When given a choice, go for opportunities that prioritize peer collaboration, specific topics, and consistent follow-up for optimal results.

For endless opportunities to exchange resources, ideas, practices, and formal training with educators from across the US, join SimplyPD. This is the most comprehensive online marketplace for teachers and other educational professionals offering or looking for PD options.