Hopefully by now you’ve checked out Much Ado About Professional Development per this Bill Turque story in the Washington Post. It must be said: The intrepid bloggers here at Teacher Beat reported Ms. Rhee’s plans for PD quite some time ago.
Still, I’m glad to see that PD, generally considered a wonky and mushy topic, is getting some real attention for a change. (Although maybe this story in part reflects the current vogue for all things Rhee--everything from her clothes to her dating life has been generating attention.)
The central debate in the Post story centers on the fact that it’ll take until 2010-2011 for all teachers to receive the retooled training. Depending on who you believe, this is either a good thing (to ensure quality control) or a bad thing (why’s it taking so long?). But what I want to know is what the heck happened from 2004 to 2007, when the previous DC contract was in place? You’ll have to root it out among the document’s 80+ pages, but there are plenty of PD-related activities in the contract that could be acted on now, including PD standards, a career ladder, and daily 30 minute-common planning time for teachers.