For the purpose of EMR’s latest survey, “professional development” was defined for the respondents as including “all staff development or in-service training - district, building, or commercially provided - for teachers or administrators that relates to improving teaching methods, classroom management, assessment, using technology, etc.”

Survey results show that some things have clearly changed in the Professional Development market in recent years, but many of the changes seem to be highly correlated with strained school budgets. For example, the average number of training hours per new teacher per year has edged downward from 26.4 hours in 2008 to 25.7 hours in 2010. The number of systems mandating “more than 30 hours” of training for new teachers also shifted slightly lower, from 38.7% of districts in 2008 to 37.5% of districts in 2010. A similar downward shift has taken place in terms of veteran teachers, and in terms of administrators. Thus of the three categories of personnel, none showed a higher average number of training hours compared to the results of EMR’s previous survey two years ago.

In one signal of the tightness of school budgets in the past couple of school years, travel-related items like “conference attendance” and “off-site workshops” are both down compared to 2008, with in-house staff development apparently taking up the slack.

Based on the present data, the total professional development market size is estimated at $3.6 billion, up 12.5% compared to EMR’s survey estimate of $3.2 billion two years ago. Going back to EMR’s 2003-04 school year survey estimate of $2.8 billion, it looks like the market has exhibited an annual growth rate of around 5% over the last six school years.

In addition to market size and growth rate, this report details the key professional goals, issues and content needs, as specified by the educators. Also the competitive picture is thoroughly analyzed.

All of those who participate in the highly competitive PD segment will benefit from the market intelligence contained within this comprehensive report.