This primary purpose of the study was to expand the work of Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, and Yoon (2001) by creating and psychometrically testing an instrument designed to measure teachers' perceptions of characteristics of professional development. Elementary teachers (n = 406) from five school districts in Washington State participating in a school improvement initiative completed the survey (51% response rate). Results of an exploratory factor analysis (PCA with oblimin rotation) resulted in a five component solution: (a) Collective Participation, (b) Focus on Teachers' Content Knowledge and How Students Learn Content, (c) Coherence with Teachers' Needs and Circumstances, (d) Active Learning in Classroom, and (e) Active Learning Beyond the Classroom. The revised instrument exhibited strong internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha values ranging from 0.72 to 0.94 for each subscale. The aforementioned components differ from the characteristics tested by Garet et al. (2001); most notably items intended to measure Active Learning split into two distinct components. The secondary purpose of the study was to determine if characteristics of effective professional development predicted teachers' use of new knowledge and skills, and student learning outcomes. For the correlational portion of the study, the sample was restricted to elementary teachers in one district involved with the initiative. There was a slight, but significant, correlation between Active Learning in Classroom and teachers' use of new knowledge and skills, as measured by STAR classroom observation scores, r[subscript s] = 0.189, p = 0.049. A small negative correlation emerged between Collective Participation and student learning, as measured by student scores on the state's criterion-based mathematics assessment, r[subscript s] = -0.279, p = 0.014. The Characteristics of Professional Development instrument demonstrated strong internal consistency and construct validity. More research should be done to determine the predictive validity and potential uses of the resulting instrument. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]