Road Map to a Quality, Sustainable Professional Development Program

President Obama instituted the Race to the Top initiative in 2011 as part of his stimulus package, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Participating states must adopt national standards, revise teacher evaluation procedures, and administer new state assessments. As a result, states are prioritizing quality professional development to prepare teachers for these rapid shifts. Such added pressures could impact teachers’ attitudes toward their professional growth and influence their decision to apply new knowledge. This study particularly focused on high school teachers' perceptions of the quality of professional development afforded to them and how those perceptions could shape a sustainable professional development program. Moreover, there was a paucity of literature on the impending pressures on secondary educators to improve students' college and career readiness. Considering all of these recent shifts in education and the emphasis on quality teaching, it was appropriate to investigate how high school teachers perceived the quality of their own professional learning.