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 yoüre 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.

List of contents

Foreword by Frederick Brown
Acknowledgments
About the Author
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
Why Is Professional Learning Important?
Why Is Evaluation Important?
Why Are Most Professional Learning Evaluations Inadequate?
What Issues Will We Not Address?
What Issues Will We Address?
Conclusion
Questions for Reflection
CHAPTER 2. THE PUZZLING RESULTS IN PROFESSIONAL LEARNING RESEARCH
Why Are Many Summaries of Professional Learning So Discouraging?
Why Do Positive Results Remain Puzzling?
What Explains the Inconsistencies in Results?
How Can We Get Better Results
Conclusion
Questions for Reflection
CHAPTER 3. WHAT IS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING?
What Is Professional Learning?
What Are the Different Models of Professional Learning?
How Do the Different Models Compare?
Is There Consensus on the Features of Effective Professional Learning?
What Are the Standards for Professional Learning?
Conclusion
Questions for Reflection
CHAPTER 4. WHAT IS EVALUATION?
What Is Evaluation?
How Does Evaluation Differ From Other Related Activities?
What Are the Principal Models of Evaluation?
What Are the Purposes of Evaluation?
What Are the Standards for Good Evaluations?
Conclusion
Questions for Reflection
CHAPTER 5. PRACTICAL GUIDELINES FOR EVALUATING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
How Should We Begin Thinking About Evaluating Professional Learning?
What Is the Relationship Between Professional Learning and Improvements in Student Learning?
What Are the Critical Levels of Professional Learning Evaluation?
What Are the Implications of the Five Critical Levels?
What Is the Difference Between Evidence and Proof?
Conclusion
Questions for Reflection
CHAPTER 6. LEVEL 1: PARTICIPANTS' REACTIONS
What Questions Are Addressed at This Level?
How Will Evidence Be Gathered?
What Is Measured or Assessed?
How Will the Evidence Be Used?
Conclusion
Questions for Reflection
CHAPTER 7. LEVEL 2: PARTICIPANTS' LEARNING
Why Is It Important to Assess Participants' Learning?
What Questions Are Addressed at This Level?
What Types of Learning Are Assessed?
How Will Evidence Be Gathered?
What Is Measured or Assessed
How Will the Evidence Be Used?
Conclusion
Questions for Reflection
CHAPTER 8. LEVEL 3: ORGANIZATION SUPPORT AND CHANGE
Why Is It Important to Assess Organization Support and Change?
What Questions Are Addressed?
How Will the Evidence Be Gathered?
What Is Measured or Assessed?
How Will the Evidence Be Used?
Questions for Reflection
CHAPTER 9. LEVEL 4: PARTICIPANTS' USE OF NEW KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
Why Is It Important to Assess Participants' Use of New Knowledge and Skills
What Questions Are Addressed?
How Will the Evidence Be Gathered?
What Is Measured or Assessed?
How Will the Evidence Be Used?
Questions for Reflection
CHAPTER 10. LEVEL 5: STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Why Is It Important to Assess Student Learning Outcomes?
What Questions Are Addressed?
What Types of Learning Are Assessed?
How Will the Evidence Be Gathered?
What Other Assessment Issues Should Be Considered?
What Is Measured or Assessed?
How Will the Evidence Be Used?
Questions for Reflection
CHAPTER 11. PRESENTING EVALUATION RESULTS
How Do We Begin the Evaluation Process?
Why Is Flexibility Essential?
Who Is Responsible for Evaluation?
How Is Evaluation Evidence Best Presented?
How Should Evaluation Reports be Organized?
What Additional Aspects of Evaluation Must Be Considered?
Where Do We Go From Here?
Questions for Reflection
REFERENCES
INDEX

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 [e-mail], Twitter at @tguskey, or at www.tguskey.com.

Product details

• Authors: Guskey Thomas R.
• Publisher: Sage Publications
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 14.03.2026
• EAN: 9798348835996
• ISBN: 979-8-3488-3599-6
• No. of pages: 264
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Education > General, dictionaries; EDUCATION / Professional Development, EDUCATION / Leadership, Organization & management of education, teacher training, North America (USA and Canada), Teachers' classroom resources & material, Educational systems and structures, EDUCATION / Teacher Training & Certification, For vocational / professional education / training