ABSTRACT
This chapter presents background information about reflective practice and a rationale for its use and describes the standards, presents a professional development activity for enhancing fluency in the use of reflective practice, and explains how the standards can be assessed. It presents the standards for reflective practice developed with ongoing research about levels of reflection as indicators of cognitive developmental changes among personnel involved in school reform efforts. Theories-in-use are more powerful than espoused theories in guiding our behaviors and actions because they exist at tacit or subconscious level and are not easily articulated. Discrepancies between espoused theories and theories-in-use may exist for long periods of time. Reflective practice provides a rigorous and structured way of examining and identifying these discrepancies. The major criterion for assessment of the fourth reflective practice standard is evidence of its use in conversations, shared journals, and individual professional development plans prepared by faculty and staff throughout the school.
