School-Level Mechanisms Among Collective Teacher Innovativeness, Participatory School Climate, Teacher Collaboration, and Professional Development Activities: Analysis by MLSEM

Blended learning is a promis- ing model for supporting teacher professional development that combines the advantages of tradi- tional face-to-face interaction with the flexibility of online learning. In this study, we examine the impact of two one-year blended learning programs on teachers’ attitudes, knowledge, and classroom practices. These professional development programs were designed to enhance middle school teachers’ subject matter knowledge and pedagogical skills in mathematics and science/ technology. Our results indicate that the programs positively affected teacher attitudes and content knowledge in these curricular areas and motivated many teachers to transform their classroom practices. Increased teacher collaboration and involvement at the school level sug- gest that the experiences contrib- uted to the emergence of fledgling communities of practice. At the same time, the lack of cohesion in online groups and the drop off in participation suggest the need to rethink some aspects of the design of blended learning environments.

Download Full-text

Connecting for Greater Purpose: An Examination of a District PLC

Journal of Teaching and Learning ◽

10.22329/jtl.v8i1.2980 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Annie Gojmerac ◽

Lorenzo Cherubini

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Learning Community ◽

Teacher Leadership ◽

Professional Learning ◽

Teacher Collaboration ◽

School Level ◽

Transformational Teaching ◽

Professional Development Model ◽

Service Paradigm ◽

Improve Student Learning

This paper discusses an innovative professional development model based on a personal service approach of teacher collaboration in lieu of the more traditional expert-driven in-service paradigm. It presents a research-based Professional Learning Community (PLC) model in a large urban Ontario (Canada) school board that focused on transformational teaching strategies as a means of professional development to enhance teacher practice and improve student learning. The two key themes of the grounded theory qualitative analysis are also discussed. They include: (1) contextually-relevant PLCs, and (2) teacher leadership embedded in relationships. Last, the paper provides a framework for provincial, district, and school-level administrators to support the underlying values of teachers’ professional capacities as collaborative lead learners.

Download Full-text

The Relationship between Physical Education Teachers’ Perceptions of Principals’ Transformational Leadership and Creative Teaching Behavior at Junior and Senior High Schools: A Cross-Level Moderating Effect on Innovative School Climates

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13158184 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (15) ◽

pp. 8184

Author(s):

Chia-Ming Chang ◽

Huey-Hong Hsieh ◽

Yu-Hui Chou ◽

Hsiu-Chin Huang

Keyword(s):

Transformational Leadership ◽

High Schools ◽

School Climate ◽

Physical Education ◽

Positive Impact ◽

School Level ◽

Physical Education Teachers ◽

Teaching Behaviors ◽

Creative Teaching ◽

The Relationship

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between a principal’s transformational leadership and creative teaching behavior of physical education teachers at junior and senior high schools in Taiwan (at the individual level) and the cross-level effect on creative teaching behaviors of physical education teachers in an innovative school climate (at the school level) and the moderator effect of an innovative school climate on the relationship between a principal’s transformational leadership and creative teaching behaviors of physical education teachers. A total of 800 questionnaires were distributed to physical education teachers at 59 junior and senior high schools and 477 valid surveys were collected for data analysis. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we found that at the individual level, a principal’s transformational leadership has a positive impact on creative teaching behaviors of physical education teachers, and at the school level, an innovative school climate has a positive impact on creative teaching behaviors (at the person level) of physical education teachers. An innovative school climate at the school level has no moderating effects on the relationship between a principal’s transformational leadership and creative teaching behaviors of physical education teachers. This study provides implications and applications for cross-level studies, and builds the foundation for future multilevel research.

Download Full-text

Closing Achievement Gaps: Examining the Roles of School Background and Process

Education and Urban Society ◽

10.1177/0013124521989447 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 001312452198944

Author(s):

Huang Wu ◽

Jianping Shen ◽

Jessaca Spybrook ◽

Xingyuan Gao

Keyword(s):

Achievement Gap ◽

Teacher Collaboration ◽

White Students ◽

Science Achievement ◽

Linear Models ◽

Achievement Gaps ◽

School Level ◽

Academic Learning ◽

Closing Achievement Gaps

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of school background and school process in closing achievement gaps between White and non-White students in science. To answer the research questions, a series of two-level hierarchical linear models (HLM) was performed on the fourth-grade U.S. portion of the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data. Results indicate that (a) the science achievement gap between White and non-White students is 0.21 standard deviation, holding student and school background constant; (b) the science achievement gap varies across schools; (c) none of the school background variables are associated with the achievement gap in a school; and (d) school emphasis on student academic learning is not only associated with higher school-level science achievement, but also with a narrower science achievement gap between White and non-White students. However, teacher collaboration is not associated with school-level science achievement but is associated with a larger achievement gap. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for further research are discussed.

Download Full-text

Teachers’ professional collaboration and trust relationships: An inferential social network analysis of teacher teams

Research in Education ◽

10.1177/00345237211031585 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 003452372110315

Author(s):

Nina Kolleck ◽

Johannes Schuster ◽

Ulrike Hartmann ◽

Cornelia Gräsel

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Teacher Collaboration ◽

Classroom Practices ◽

Research Literature ◽

School Level ◽

Teacher Teams ◽

Exponential Random Graph Models ◽

Network Analyses ◽

Trust Relationships ◽

General Network

In recent years, teachers around the world have been increasingly confronted with various expectations concerning the improvement of their classroom practices and school activities. One factor widely acknowledged to facilitate school and classroom improvement is a strong collaborative culture among teachers. As such, teachers are expected to work in teacher teams, to collaborate closely with colleagues, to co-construct classroom practices, and thus to strengthen trust relationships within the team. A growing number of researchers has analyzed how teachers address these expectations. They suggest that there is a link between teachers’ embeddedness in collaboration networks and teachers’ trust relationships. The present study seeks to contribute to the research literature by presenting results of Social Network Analyses (SNA) and exponential random graph models (ERGMs) on teacher collaboration in nine secondary schools in Germany (N = 366 teachers). We investigate how the involvement of teachers in co-constructive collaboration in schools, measured by the amount of team teaching (TT), relates to teachers’ trust levels. Results of our analyses suggest that a high amount of TT is not necessarily related to a higher degree of trust among teachers at the school level. However, a high involvement of teachers in TT is related positively to their being perceived as trustworthy. Furthermore, the emergence of trust relations in teacher networks depends on general network characteristics, such as homophily, reciprocity and transitivity.

Download Full-text

Teachers Who Reflect, Teach Better: Reflective Practice at The Heart of Teachers’ Professional Development Programs

Idealogy Journal of Arts and Social Science ◽

10.24191/idealogy.v5i2.243 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 215-227

Author(s):

Zuraimi Zakaria ◽

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Reflective Practice ◽

Student Performance ◽

Teacher Collaboration ◽

Development Programs ◽

Teaching Improvement ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Teachers Professional Development ◽

The Relationship

While there is a significant amount of research and literature to explain the role of reflective practice in teaching, there is little research that reported the extent of such practice on classroom instructions and its spill effects on student learning outcomes. For this reason, this paper looks at the magnitude of reflective practice in shaping classroom instructions and how it facilitates for better student performance within the context of teachers’ professional development (PD) programs. Hence, the focus of the paper is two-fold: examining teachers’ PD programs that promoted reflective practice; and the relationship between reflective practice and student performance. The discussion on teachers’ reflective practice is timely. In particular, with the growing educational research and increasing body of evidence that pointed towards PD as having a significant influence on student achievement (Achinstein & Athanases, 2006; Fullan, 1990; Little, 2001). In addition, most PD efforts focused on teacher collaboration as a strategy for teaching improvement and eventually better academic performance of the students (Achinstein & Athanases, 2006). Many educators (Fendler, 2003; Loughran, 2002; Schon, 1983; Walkington, 2005) viewed reflective practice as situated at the heart of PD programs that sought teachers to examine their practice for improvement. This paper assists policy makers and education reformists in re-examining their PD efforts in targeting for variables that matter.

Download Full-text

Blog-based professional development of English teachers in Mumbai: The potential of innovative practice under scrutiny

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology ◽

10.14742/ajet.2784 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Atiya Khan

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Learning Community ◽

Professional Learning ◽

Teacher Collaboration ◽

Effective Means ◽

English Teachers ◽

Information And Communications Technology ◽

Learning Networks ◽

Using Data ◽

Interactive Workshop

The professional development of teachers in India is still, by and large, based on formal and outdated professional learning traditions, often characterised by crash courses and one-off workshops. In education, blogs have proven to be an effective means of establishing and maintaining collaborative learning networks and helping members reflect on their professional practices. Information and communications technology (ICT) enabled practices of teacher professional development is still in its infancy in India. Moreover, there is limited research in India to secure foundational understanding of how and in what ways teachers of English in India use blogs for their professional development. This study explores the use of teacher reflective practice, teacher networking, and teacher collaboration, beyond formal ICT training, through blog-based professional development of English teachers in the Mumbai region of India. Using data collected from 32 teachers from three private schools in Mumbai, through ICT interactive workshop observations, questionnaires, interviews, and blog comments, this action case study explains whether and why blogging, as a learning community, has the potential to add significant value to existing professional development of English teachers in Mumbai.

Download Full-text

Hastening slowly: insights about teacher development from an evaluation of courses at the WCED’s Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute

Journal of Education ◽

10.17159/i61a06 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Susan Meyer ◽

Lydia Abel

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Teacher Development ◽

Professional Learning ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

School Level ◽

Western Cape ◽

Leadership Institute ◽

Service Training ◽

Education Administrators ◽

The Impact

In the area of teacher professional development, South African education administrators face the challenge of reconciling two imperatives that have entirely different implications for programme time frames and budgets. On the one hand, there is an urgent need to improve the pedagogic content knowledge of many teachers to improve the overall standard of teaching and learning in the public school system. Considering the scale and urgency of the matter, centralised course-based in-service training seems to be the only affordable alternative. On the other hand, researchers have long warned that once-off course-based training on its own has limited impact on teachers’ practice, and has to be accompanied by further professional support in the school and classroom, or be abandoned in favour of more enduring professional learning communities. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has grappled with this dilemma in the Department’s various professional development initiatives for teachers, a mainstay of which is the training offered by the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute (CTLI). This paper presents some of the data and findings from an external evaluation that ORT SA CAPE conducted in 2011–2012 of courses offered by the WCED at the CTLI. The hierarchy of INSET outcomes proposed by Harland and Kinder (1997) was applied to record changes in the practice of 18 teachers at eight schools. The progress of five of the teachers is discussed to illustrate the interplay between school-level factors and the experiences of individual teachers which influenced the impact of CTLI training on their teaching.

Download Full-text

Identifying Levers Related to Student Performance on High-Stakes Science Exams: Examining School, Teaching, Teacher, and Professional Development Characteristics

10.31219/osf.io/83hm2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Christian Fischer ◽

Brandon Foster ◽

Ayana McCoy ◽

Frances Lawrenz ◽

Christopher Dede ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Student Achievement ◽

Student Performance ◽

Science Teachers ◽

Curriculum Reform ◽

The United States ◽

School Level ◽

High Stakes ◽

Reform Implementation ◽

School Teaching

Background: Many students enter into postsecondary education without the college readiness skills that allow them to face the demands of postsecondary education. Increasingly, policymakers and educational researchers are responding to calls for reforming secondary education to provide more opportunity for all students to receive high quality education and to become career and college ready. Purpose: This study attempts to identify levers to increase student performance in secondary education. In particular, it examines relationships of school, teaching, teacher, and teacher professional development characteristics with student scores on high-stakes Advanced Placement (AP) examinations in the sciences.Setting: This study is situated in the context of the large-scale, top-down, nationwide AP curriculum and examination reform in the sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) in the United States. This is an unprecedented opportunity to analyze changing educational landscapes in the United States with large-scale national student-, teacher-, school-, and district-level data sets across multiple science disciplines and different stages of the curriculum reform implementation connected to a standardized and high-stakes student outcome measure.Population: This study analyzes nationwide data samples of the AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics population during the first, second, and third year of the curriculum reform implementation. Across disciplines and years, the analytical samples include a total of 113,603 students and 6,046 teachers. Research design: This empirical quantitative study uses data from web-based surveys sent to all AP science teachers. Additionally, College Board provided student- and school-level data for all students taking AP examinations. Data preparation methods included exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Associations towards student achievement were analyzed through multi-level ordered logistic regression analysis separately by science discipline and year of the curriculum reform implementation. Afterwards, the results were aggregated through a meta-analysis. Findings: Student performance is not pre-determined by students’ background, leaving roughly 60% of the AP score variance potentially malleable for teacher and school-level factors. In particular, teachers’ perceived administrative support, self-efficacy, teaching experience, and elements of classroom instruction were related to student performance. Notably, teachers’ professional development participation has a small, mixed impact on student achievement. Conclusion: The identified levers for improving student achievement provide a strong rationale for the continued efforts of policy makers to improve school environments and to support science teachers to ultimately both increase student learning and help all students graduate prepared for college and ready for their future careers.

Download Full-text

Repetita Iuvant? A Repeated Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effectiveness of an At-Scale Teacher Professional Development Program

Evaluation Review ◽

10.1177/0193841x211055354 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0193841X2110553

Author(s):

Giovanni Abbiati ◽

Gianluca Argentin ◽

Andrea Caputo ◽

Aline Pennisi

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Teacher Collaboration ◽

Program Implementation ◽

Program Effectiveness ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Development Program ◽

Professional Development Program ◽

Small Scale ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

The Impact

Background A recent stream of literature recognizes the impact of good/poor implementation on the effectiveness of programs. However, implementation is often disregarded in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) because they are run on a small scale. Replicated RCTs, although rare, provide a unique opportunity to study the relevance of implementation for program effectiveness. Objectives Evaluating the effectiveness of an at-scale professional development program for lower secondary school math teachers through two repeated RCTs. Research Design The program lasts a full school year and provides innovative methods for teaching math. The evaluation was conducted on two cohorts of teachers in the 2009/10 and 2010/11 school years. The program and RCTs were held at scale. Participating teachers and their classes were followed for 3 years. Impact is estimated by comparing the math scores of treatment and control students. Subjects The evaluation involved 195 teachers and their 3940 students (first cohort) and 146 teachers and their 2858 students (second cohort). Measures The key outcome is students’ math achievement, measured through standardized assessment. Results In the first wave, the program did not impact on students’ achievement, while in the second wave, a positive, persistent, and not insignificant effect was found. After excluding other sources of change, different findings across waves are interpreted in the light of improvements in the program implementation, such as enrollment procedure, teacher collaboration, and integration of innovation in daily teaching. Conclusions Repeated assessment of interventions already at-scale provides the opportunity to better identify and correct sources of weak implementation, potentially improving effectiveness.

Download Full-text