District and state policy influences on professional development and school capacity

Based on a review of research, this article examines the extent to which re cent reforms related to professional development addressed different aspect s of school capacity. The reforms include teacher networks in California, t he use of consultants and intervisitation in New York City's District 2, st udent assessments in Kentucky and Maryland, and school improvement plans in South Carolina. The article finds that these reforms generally strengthene d teachers' Knowledge, skills, and dispositions but had uneven effects on o ther aspects of school capacity. The final section discusses four implicati ons of the findings and suggests some guidelines for district and state pol icy regarding professional development. The guidelines include the need for districts and states to promote within-school collaboration and for distri cts to negotiate the tension between promoting internal school coherence wh ile providing so,ne autonomy to individual schools.