Teach In Florida

District professional development activities in Florida are guided by Florida’s Professional Development System Evaluation Protocol. This evaluation model assesses the local planning, learning, implementation, and evaluation of professional development activities according to standards modeled after the National Staff Development Council standards as well as Florida Statutory requirements. The Professional Development System Evaluation Protocol includes standards that serve to identify and recognize best practices as well as to identify local professional development systems in need of improvement.

The Florida Department of Education initiated the Professional Development System Evaluation Protocol in the Spring 2003 as a means to fulfill the requirements of section 1012.98, Florida Statutes. This legislation sets forth that the purpose of professional development systems is to increase student achievement, enhance classroom instructional strategies that promote rigor and relevance throughout the curriculum, and prepare students for continuing education and the workforce. The Standards were revised and updated in 2010 to reflect recent changes in law and current research and practice.

Florida’s Professional Development System Evaluation Protocol provides the criteria for evaluating the quality of each district’s professional development system. Systems are evaluated at the district, school and educator level in four essential elements of high quality professional development, or strands, which are incorporated into each level: planning, learning, implementing and evaluating. Judgments on 65 standards organized under these strands are made using a 4-point rating scale, with a midpoint of 2.5. A school district meets the adequacy provision when the average of the ratings for all of the standards is above the midpoint on the scale. District professional development systems are reviewed on a four-year cycle beginning with the third cycle in AY 2010-2011.

Overview of Protocol Standards

PowerPoint Presentation on Third Cycle Updates

National Staff Development Council's Standards for Staff Development