Low shares of teachers find professional development 'very useful': Shares of teachers giving content-specific professional development activities a given ranking of usefulness, by subject area
| Not useful | Somewhat useful | Useful | Very useful | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching English language learners (ELLs) | 5.6% | 32.5% | 42.4% | 19.5% |
| Student discipline and classroom management | 4.8% | 31.8% | 43.7% | 19.7% |
| Teaching students with disabilities | 3.8% | 28.5% | 45.2% | 22.5% |
| Use of computers for instruction | 3.1% | 29.3% | 42.1% | 25.5% |
| Reading instruction | 3.6% | 27.3% | 42.2% | 26.8% |
| Content of the subject(s) they teach | 1.8% | 27.8% | 43.7% | 26.8% |
Notes: Data are for teachers in public noncharter schools. The figure shows shares of teachers who answered “very useful,” “useful,” “somewhat useful,” or “not useful” when asked, for specific professional development activities, “Overall, how useful were these activities to you?”
Source: 2011–2012 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) microdata from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)