Evaluating Professional Learning

Transform your professional learning programs with proven evaluation strategies that drive real results! Professional learning is more important than ever, yet many programs fail to deliver meaningful improvements in teaching practice or student outcomes. This comprehensive guide addresses the urgent need for effective evaluation methods that can transform how educators approach professional learning. Drawing from 25 years of field feedback and the latest research, this updated edition provides practical frameworks for assessing professional learning across five critical levels: participant reactions, participant learning, organizational support and change, implementation, and improved student outcomes. Building on the foundation that made the first edition a landmark resource cited in over 7,000 scholarly articles, this second edition offers educators and school leaders the tools they need to design, implement, and evaluate professional learning that actually works. Key features include: Streamlined, practical guidance that focuses on utility and ease of implementation rather than academic theory An updated research base reflecting the latest findings in professional learning effectiveness A five-level evaluation framework that connects professional learning directly to student learning outcomes Guidance for using AI tools to gather evaluation data and meaningfully analyze results Real-world examples and case studies demonstrating successful evaluation strategies across diverse educational contexts Reflection questions and resources at the end of each chapter to support immediate application Whether you′re a teacher leader, school leader, or professional learning coordinator, this book will help you move beyond professional learning that merely satisfies participants to programs that transform educational practice and demonstrably improve student learning.

Table of Contents:
Dedication About the Author Acknowledgements Foreword by Frederick Brown Chapter 1 - Introduction Chapter 2 - The Puzzling Results in Professional Learning Research Chapter 3 - What is Professional Learning? Chapter 4 - What is Evaluation? Chapter 5 - Practical Guidelines for Evaluating Professional Learning Chapter 6 - Level 1: Participants’ Reactions Chapter 7 – Level 2: Participants’ Learning Chapter 8 – Level 3: Organization Support and Change Chapter 9 – Level 4: Participants’ Use of New Knowledge and Skills Chapter 10 – Level 5: Student Learning Outcomes Chapter 11 – Presenting Evaluation Results

About the Author :
Thomas R. Guskey, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky. A graduate of the University of Chicago’s renowned Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistical Analysis (MESA) program, he began his career in education as a middle school teacher, served as an administrator in the Chicago Public Schools, and was the first Director of the Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning, a national educational research center. He is the author/editor of twenty-seven books and over three hundred articles published in prominent research journals as well as Educational Leadership, Kappan, and The School Administrator.   Dr. Guskey served on the Policy Research Team of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, and on the task force to develop the National Standards for Professional Development. He was named a Fellow in the American Educational Research Association and was awarded the Association’s prestigious Relating Research to Practice Award. He was also awarded Learning Forward′s Outstanding Contribution to the Field Award and Phi Delta Kappan′s Distinguished Educator Award. Perhaps most unique, in the 158-year history of his undergraduate institution, Thiel College, he is one of only three graduates to receive the Outstanding Alumnus Award and be inducted into the Thiel College Athletic Hall of Fame.   His most recent books include Implementing Mastery Learning (2023), Instructional Feedback: The Power, the Promise, the Practice (with Smith & Lipnevich, 2023); Get Set, Go! Creating Successful Grading and Reporting Systems (2020), What We Know About Grading (with Brookhart, 2019), and On Your Mark: Challenging the Conventions of Grading and Reporting (2015). He may be contacted by email at guskey@uky.edu, Twitter at @tguskey, or at www.tguskey.com.