Schools across the country are implementing professional development initiatives with the intent of improving student outcomes. Over the past twenty years the criterion for measuring professional development has shifted from identifying what schools quantify to how professional development impacts students performance.

Teachers are under a great deal of pressure to ensure all students are performing at high levels. An increased emphasis is being placed on student performance as a means to evaluate districts, schools and teachers. Schools and districts are investing resources in professional development with the hope of improving the quality of instruction that will ultimately lead to greater student outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to examine if there is a relationship between implementation of the elements of high quality staff development and the degree to which teachers believe staff development has caused change in their teaching practice in the areas of subject matter knowledge, instructional strategies, and assessment strategies.

The study found all participant groups exhibited at least minor change in teacher practice. Schools were identified by levels of change (minor, moderate, high). Next the study examined how those same schools rated their staff development on the Standards Assessment Inventory. The study analyze these finding to determine if their was a relationship between the implementation of staff development and change in teacher practice.

The study identified when a significant difference exist between how schools and the three levels of change perceived how their staff development addressed the National Staff Development Council Standards (NSDC). As a result of the study the NSDC standards of Leadership and Collaboration were found to have a statistically insignificant difference in the school mean scores between the levels of change (minor, moderate, high). For the school that participated in this study a relationship did not exist between the implementation of the standards Leadership and Collaboration and a change in teacher practice. There was not a significant difference between how schools in three levels of change perceived how their staff development addressed the standards of Leadership and Collaboration.