Why Can't We Get It Right?

Designing High-Quality Professional Development for Standards-Based Schools

"In Why Can't We Get It Right? Second Edition, Marsha Speck and Caroll Knipe provide a thorough overview of what is known about the nature of professional development that produces high levels of learning and performance for teachers and their students. They admirably achieve their goal of showing how well-designed professional development with a clear focus on improved student learning can make a difference in teaching and student success."
—From the Foreword by Dennis Sparks, Executive Director
National Staff Development Council

How can we use professional development to provide the best teaching and learning opportunities for all students?

To increase student achievement and prepare all students to meet standards, educators must be well prepared. Teachers who know their content and strategies can open a virtual toolbox and take out what they need to help all students become successful. This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Why Can't We Get It Right? explains how educational leaders can design, deliver, and evaluate collaborative standards-based professional development.

In this unique and indispensable guide, Marsha Speck and Caroll Knipe provide professional development designs, challenging teachers to make a difference for students and resulting in dramatically improved schools. This excellent resource contains:

• Essential questions about high-quality professional development
• Information on creating the culture for a learning community
• Conditions and processes for professional development
• Suggestions on designing your own model
• Tools for evaluating and rethinking professional development and learning
• Strategies for deepening a leader's impact on a standards-based system

If we are to improve learning and achievement in our schools, we must also nourish the growth of educators and foster a learner-centered environment!