Making Every Professional Development Dollar Count: Turning PD into Measurable Growth

Professional development (PD) is one of the most significant investments charter networks make each year, yet it’s also one of the hardest to measure. Leaders are often left asking whether PD time and dollars are actually improving instruction or simply checking a box to meet requirements.

In multi-campus networks, the challenge intensifies. Limited budgets, competing priorities, and diverse staff needs make it difficult to move beyond generic workshops toward learning experiences that truly support educator growth.

These challenges were at the center of Making Every Professional Development Dollar Count, a session at Education Advanced’s Charter Leadership Exchange. During this conversation, leaders explored how evaluation data can serve as the foundation for more intentional, effective PD and how to focus on aligning learning investments with real instructional needs.

The discussion featured Iman Alattar, Learning Development Specialist at Stride, Inc., moderated by Education Advanced leaders Lisa Tunnell and Amy Stock.

Key Takeaways from the Session

• Professional development often fails when it’s disconnected from real classroom data.
• Evaluation data provides a roadmap for targeting learning where it will have the greatest impact.
• Network-wide visibility helps leaders prioritize PD investments across campuses.
• Measuring PD effectiveness requires more than attendance; it requires follow-through and feedback.
• Systems that connect evaluation and learning make growth sustainable, not episodic.

Why does professional development often fall short?

Alattar: Too often, PD is designed around what’s available rather than what’s needed. Without clear data, learning experiences become broad and generic, and teachers struggle to apply them in meaningful ways.

When PD isn’t connected to evaluation or feedback, it feels disconnected from practice. That’s when engagement drops.

Insight: Professional development loses impact when it’s planned in isolation. Data-aligned learning grounds PD in real instructional needs.

What does data-aligned professional development planning look like in a multi-campus network?

Alattar: It starts with looking for patterns. When leaders can identify common growth areas across schools or roles, PD becomes focused and relevant instead of scattershot.

Data doesn’t replace professional judgment; it sharpens it. Leaders can still honor local context while making smarter network-level investments.

Insight: Data-aligned PD allows networks to balance consistency and flexibility, ensuring learning addresses both shared and local needs.

How can networks evaluate whether PD investments are actually improving instruction?

Alattar: Attendance doesn’t tell you much. The real question is whether practice changes. Follow-up observations, coaching conversations, and reflection are what show impact.

When evaluation data improves over time in targeted areas, that’s when you know PD is working.

Insight: Measuring PD effectiveness requires closing the loop; connecting learning experiences back to instructional evidence.

Investing in Growth That Matters

This conversation reinforced a critical concept for charter leaders: professional development is most powerful when it’s intentional, targeted, and measurable.  

When networks use evaluation data to guide learning investments, PD shifts from a recurring expense to a strategic lever for improvement.

Evaluation helps make this connection possible.  

By linking evaluation data, reporting, and insights in one system, Evaluation enables leaders to plan professional learning that responds to real needs, and to monitor whether those investments are driving growth.

Ready to see how Evaluation will help your network make every PD dollar count?

Book a personalized demo today and learn how leading organizations are aligning evaluation and professional learning for lasting impact.