Quality professional development is fundamental to effective teaching and higher student achievement in all classrooms at all grade levels. Administrators and instructional staff must possess solid, up-to-date academic and professional skills in order to maintain high performance schools. To ensure the acquisition of these skills, the Kentucky Department of Education promotes characteristics identified by research as crucial to effective professional development. These include (1) a focus upon instruction and student performance;(2) peer review, collegiality, and collaboration in plan development; (3) flexibility, experimentation, and risk taking; (4) group decision making about content, format, timing, implementation specifics, evaluation, and other dimensions of professional development; (5) realistic time estimates for changes in practice; (6) increased integration and linkages among schools, districts, the local community, and higher education; (7) support of official leaders who know what to expect and how to be of assistance; (8) participants given time to work on professional development and assimilate new learning; (9) participants sharing and building upon their own experiences and perspectives; and (10) individual, school, district, and state goals use staff professional development to build capabilities that implement all components of reform. Strategies to promote and implement professional development programs are outlined, and program assessment and evaluation tools are included.