Athletes, musicians, investors, and hopeless romantics search for the sweet spot in their equipment, analysis, or hearts. A sweet spot is a place where a combination of factors comes together to produce the best results with greatest efficiency. William Safire, writing in his On Language column in The Times Magazine, says that “the origin of the metaphor is the thickest part of a baseball bat. That may not be subtle enough; more precisely, it is the place somewhere on the ‘meat end’ of the bat that the batter believes gives him the most power and control of placement. Or it is the place on the ball, just below the center of the sphere, that — when hit squarely to generate the proper amount of backspin
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Outcomes: Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students aligns its outcomes with educator performance and student curriculum standards.
Examples of Educator Performance Standards
Examples of Student Content Standards
References
Cohen, D. & Hill, H. (2000). Instructional policy and classroom performance: The mathematics reform in California. Teachers College Record, 102(2), 294-343.
Darling-Hammond, L. (1996). The right to learn and the advancement of teaching: Research, policy, and practice for democratic education. Educational Researcher, 25(6), 5-17.
Desimone, L. (2009). Improving impact studies of teachers’ professional development: Toward better conceptualizations and measures. Educational Researcher, 38(3), 181-199.
Fullan, M. (2007). The new meaning of educational change (4th ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Garet, M.S., Porter, A., Desimone, L., Birman, B., & Yoon, K.S. (2001, Winter). What makes professional development effective? Results from a national sample of teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 38(4), 915-945.
Kennedy, M. (1998, March). Education reform and subject matter knowledge. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 35(3), 249-263.
Killion, J. (1999). What works in the middle: Results-based staff development. Oxford, OH: NSDC.
Killion, J. & Roy, P. (2009). Becoming a learning school. Oxford, OH: NSDC.
Learning Forward. (2011). Standards for Professional Learning. Oxford, OH: Author.
McLaughlin, M. (1993). What matters most in teachers’ workplace context? In J.W. Little & M.W. McLaughlin (Eds.), Teachers’ work: Individuals, colleagues, and contexts. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Rosenholtz, S. (1989). Teachers’ workplace. New York, NY: Longman.
Safire, W. (2007, April 1). On Language: Sweet spot. The Times Magazine. Available at www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/magazine/01wwln-safire.t.html?fta=y.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, Unnited Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Learning Forward is the only professional association devoted exclusively to those who work in educator professional development. We help our members plan, implement, and measure high-quality professional learning so they can achieve success with their systems, schools, and students.
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