DR. DESHEILA RUMPH

Research & Professional Learning

Connecting research, professional learning, collaboration, and practical experience to strengthen leadership, implementation, and continuous improvement.

Research Into Practice

Learning Should Influence Practice.

Research and professional learning can introduce new ideas, challenge assumptions, and deepen understanding. Their greatest value, however, comes when that learning helps leaders think differently about the problems they are trying to solve and the decisions they are making.

I do not view research as something that should simply be adopted because a study, framework, or expert recommends it. Leaders have to understand the evidence, consider the context in which it was developed, and examine how well it aligns with the needs, people, structures, and conditions within their own organizations.

Professional experience adds another important source of learning. Implementation can reveal questions that were not obvious during planning. Evidence can challenge what we expected to happen. Conversations with colleagues can introduce perspectives we had not considered. Each of those experiences can strengthen how we understand and approach the work.

For me, professional learning is an ongoing process of studying, applying, examining, reflecting, and refining. What is learned should return to practice and help strengthen what happens next.

Continuous Professional Learning

Learning Continues Through Practice.

Professional learning becomes more meaningful when new knowledge is connected to practice, examined through evidence and experience, and refined over time. Learning does not end when a book is read, a course is completed, or a professional learning session concludes.

Research, Evidence, and Context

Strong Ideas Still Need the Right Context.

Research can help leaders identify practices that have demonstrated promise or effectiveness. The next step is understanding what the evidence actually supports and the conditions under which the results were produced.

I consider the population, setting, implementation requirements, resources, leadership conditions, and other factors that may influence whether an idea can be applied successfully in a different environment. A practice that worked well in one setting may require adaptation, additional support, or further examination in another.

This does not mean dismissing research when contexts differ. It means using research thoughtfully. Leaders can examine what appears transferable, identify the conditions needed for implementation, and continue gathering evidence to understand how the practice functions within their own setting.

Learning Through Collaboration

Professional Learning Is Strengthened by the Perspectives of Others.

Some of my most meaningful professional learning has developed through conversations with colleagues, shared problem solving, peer feedback, collaborative planning, and the opportunity to examine practice with others.

Collaboration can expand what one person is able to see. A colleague may bring experience from a different role, identify a question that has not been considered, contribute a useful resource, or challenge an assumption that needs to be examined more carefully.

I also believe collaborative work should acknowledge the contributions of others. Some professional resources grow from shared ideas, established practices, prior learning, individual contributions, and work that is expanded over time. Recognizing those contributions strengthens both the integrity of the work and the learning that comes from it.

The goal is not for every person to think the same way. The goal is to create opportunities for different perspectives to strengthen understanding, improve decisions, and contribute to better practice.

Reflection as Professional Learning

Experience Becomes Learning When We Examine It.

Experience alone does not automatically lead to growth. Learning becomes stronger when leaders take time to examine what happened, what influenced the outcome, what was unexpected, and what the experience may reveal about future decisions.

Reflection can surface lessons that are easy to miss while the work is happening. It can help leaders recognize where expectations were unclear, where implementation differed from the plan, where support was effective, and where assumptions need to be reconsidered.

I use reflection as a way to connect experience back to evidence and professional learning. The goal is not simply to describe what happened. The goal is to understand what can be learned from the experience and how that learning should influence what happens next.

Building a Professional Resource Base

Useful Knowledge Should Be Organized So It Can Be Used Again.

Professional learning produces a growing collection of research, frameworks, tools, reports, examples, professional readings, and lessons from practice. When those resources are intentionally organized, they become more useful for future learning and decision making.

I value resources that help answer a question, clarify a problem, deepen understanding, or support implementation. That means considering not only whether a resource is interesting, but also where it came from, what it was designed to address, and how it may be useful within the work.

A strong professional resource base also makes it easier to connect ideas across time. New learning can be compared with previous research, resources can be revisited as new questions emerge, and useful tools can be adapted or shared when similar needs appear in different settings.

Building Capacity Through Learning

Professional Learning Should Help People Use What They Learn.

Designing professional learning requires more than organizing information into a presentation. The work is to help people understand an idea, connect it to their responsibilities, examine what it looks like in practice, and determine how they can use the learning within their own work.

I often translate complex expectations, research, data, frameworks, and practical experience into learning experiences that make the work more accessible. Depending on the need, that may include professional learning sessions, leadership development, coaching, protocols, tools, examples, implementation resources, or opportunities to examine evidence together.

I also consider what should happen after the initial learning experience. People may need opportunities to practice, ask questions, receive feedback, examine implementation, revisit concepts, and strengthen their understanding over time.

The purpose is not simply to deliver information. The purpose is to build understanding and capacity so that people are better prepared to apply what they have learned.

Learning From Practice

The Work Continues to Teach Me.

My professional experience has taught me that expertise does not mean entering every situation with a predetermined answer. Schools, organizations, leaders, educators, and communities operate within different conditions. Understanding those conditions is part of understanding the work.

Working alongside others continues to deepen my thinking. Leaders raise questions that cause me to examine an issue differently. Educators reveal practical challenges that may not be visible in a plan. Implementation exposes where a process is clear and where it needs additional support. Data can confirm an assumption or challenge it completely.

Those experiences become another source of professional learning. They send me back to research, lead me to ask new questions, influence the resources I develop, and help me refine the support I provide.

I want my practice to remain informed but never static. As the work changes and new evidence becomes available, I believe my thinking should continue to develop as well.

Learning That Returns to Practice

Keep Learning. Keep Questioning. Keep Strengthening the Work.

Research can deepen understanding. Collaboration can introduce new perspectives. Reflection can reveal lessons from experience. Evidence can confirm what is working or challenge what we thought we knew.

The value of that learning is realized when it returns to practice. It should influence the questions we ask, the resources we develop, the support we provide, the decisions we make, and the way we approach the next challenge.

My goal is to remain a learner within the work while also helping others build their own knowledge and capacity. Strong systems continue to learn, and strong leaders create conditions for that learning to become part of how improvement happens.