Assessment of the Effectiveness of Professional Development Activities

This chapter provides information about assessment of professional development activities in gifted education, identify any gaps, and suggest a plan for filling in gaps. Kitano, Montgomery, VanTassel-Baska, and Johnsen, provided a list of school-based professional development strategies and corresponding activities for each of those strategies, which are more progressive than traditional professional development activities from the gifted education perspective. Now, with use of the matrix adapted from logic model, educators have a tool that provides a way to develop professional development events that meet national mandates and guidelines from the fields of professional development and gifted education. In order to move forward, scholars need to identify standards used in professional development initiatives in their published research. Professionals need to be mindful of some pitfalls when evaluating professional development activities. Plans for the evaluation of professional development activities must be determined before inception of those initiatives so that there is a map to follow for arrival at the desired destination.