Signs of Change:

Through educational research we know §professional development is pivotal to implementing §changes we need in schools and yet, mandated or pre-§packaged professional development often meets with §resistance; little or no change occurs. How can §professional development be implemented §effectively? What does change look like and who §leads the way? In this study, symbolic §interactionism provides insight into two schools §attempting to implement professional development for §science education reform and identifies some of the §roadblocks to change, both inside and outside the §schools. At one school,subtle changes in school §culture appear via teacher leadership that emerges §from a leadership team where the administrator §demonstrates servant leadership. Anyone §interested in implementation of effective §professional development in schools, i.e., §curriculum specialists, teachers and administrators §may find this analysis of change useful in §rethinking implementation of professional §development in their own schools. This work is §especially timely given President Obama''s emphasis §on professional development as a means to improving §science education.