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I am going to risk here and take, what might be, an unpopular approach to this discussion. I think the obvious answer to why PL is so ineffective is how the learning experience is presented and the lack of engagement that is typical when we think of professional development. However, I think another major factor in this issue is the willingness of the teacher.
Whoa, hold on - who said that?!?!
I know, I know, but see if you can identify with me here. The majority of teachers are maxed out and overwhelmed in their profession. There are constant demands and ever-growing to-do lists (also known as the whirlwind) that keep moving up the chain of priority. Teachers will give and give before they ever consider their own learning or their own growth. So much of this comes down to a lack of time. Maybe you've seen this too, but I have been a part of some fantastic PD sessions and seen other teachers scrolling emails, jotting their grocery lists on sticky notes, and even complaining about what a waste of time that session was when it was over. TNTP (2015) in the Mirage Report even states that the majority of teachers feel they have no weaknesses in their instruction. And some of these same teachers are the ones who structure their classrooms in the very same fashion as the PD session they complain about. There are some people out there, for various reasons whether they are justifiable or not, simply do not want to grow or continue learning. I'm not saying that is anyone here - I mean, we are all in graduate school. But I think it is unfair not to look at the entire equation and say that both the developer and the "developee" need to change in order for us all to move the educational system forward and become better at our craft.
I think one of the main ways to combat this predicament is to invest money in time. Teachers simply need more of it. Time is the constant enemy of educators, always preventing us from doing more of what we want to do in our jobs. I believe a large portion of that $18,000 needs to be invested in subbing teachers out to observe other classrooms, meet with one-on-one instructional support, or even just to reflect on their current practices. Teachers are brilliant beings and most of the time, they know what needs to change in their classrooms and even how to change it. But because they do not have time to reflect on the previous lessons they have delivered, they are not able to focus on the necessary adjustments to improve their instructional skills. They have to move so quickly onto the next unit in order to keep pace with scope and sequence so that all the information has been covered by the time the benchmark rolls around.
By providing time for teachers to breathe a bit, I believe that more teachers would feel the freedom to focus on their own learning. And when this happens and the next professional development session is offered, teachers are more in a place where they can receive it. I know this isn't the entire solution to ineffective PL, but I trust that teachers would be more proactive and approach professional development differently if they were provided with this type of opportunity.
Reference
TNTP. (2015). The Mirage: Confronting the Hard Truth About Our Quest for Teacher Development. Retrieved from http://tntp.org/publications/view/evaluation-and-development/the-mirage-confronting-the-truth-about-our-quest-for-teacher-development
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