MSDC embraces and advocates for high quality Professional Development as defined by the National Staff Development Council NSDC DEFINITION OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT- The term 'professional development' means a comprehensive, sustained and intensive approach to improving teachers' and principals' effectiveness in raising student achievement -

(A) Professional development fosters collective responsibility for improved student performance and must be comprised of professional learning that -

1. is aligned with rigorous state student academic achievement standards, as well as related local educational agency and school improvement goals;
   
   
2. is conducted among learning teams of educators, including teachers, paraprofessionals and other instructional staff at the school;
   
   
3. is facilitated by well-prepared school principals and/or school-based professional development coaches, mentors, master teachers or other teacher leaders;
   
   
4. occurs primarily multiple times per week or the equivalent of several hours per week; and
   
   
5. engages established learning teams of educators in a continuous cycle of improvement that -
   
   
   1. analyzes student, teacher and school learning needs through a thorough review of data on teacher and student performance;
      
      
   2. defines a clear set of educator learning goals based on the rigorous analysis of the data;
      
      
   3. achieves the educator learning goals identified in subsection (A)(5)(ii) by implementing coherent, sustained and evidence-based learning strategies that improve instructional effectiveness and student achievement, such as lesson study and the examining of student work;
      
      
   4. provides classroom-based coaching or other forms of assistance to support the transfer of new knowledge and skills to the classroom;
      
      
   5. regularly assesses the effectiveness of the professional development in achieving identified learning goals, improving teaching and assisting all students in meeting challenging state academic achievement standards;
      
      
   6. informs ongoing improvements in teaching and student learning; and
      
      
   7. may be facilitated and strengthened by the local education agency or other external assistance providers.