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High-quality professional development: Teacher perceptions of practice within six Ohio districts engaged in standards -based reform
Abstract
This study was designed to investigate teacher perceptions related to the quality of professional development being provided within six Ohio districts following active participation in a statewide initiative focused on the implementation of standards-based education. Two themes were developed for study. The first related to the degree to which teachers rated the quality of staff development based on the National Staff Development Council's Standards for Staff Development (2001). For purposes of this study, professional development was categorized by Levels of Investment: (a) Level I included 620 teachers representing twenty-three schools in the six districts; (b) Level II included teacher leaders who had received specialized training to lead reform; and (c) Level III included 12/23 schools that had implemented professional learning teams with common-planning time as the primary model of staff development. Survey methodology was employed and results from the analysis of the NSDC Standards Assessment Inventory (2004) revealed: (a) teachers engaged in Level I Investment identified two standards at a significant level of implementation (context - leadership; content - equity); (b) teacher leaders (Level II Investment) identified one standard at a negative level (context - leadership); (c) teachers engaged in professional learning teams (Level III Investment) rated seven standards at a high degree of implementation (context - learning communities; process - collaboration, data-driven, design, evaluation; content - equity and quality teaching). Multivariate multiple regression analysis was used to explore impact of combined Level II and Level III investment. Teachers receiving professional development at these two levels identified 10 of the 12 standards at a significant level of implementation. The second theme sought to determine whether participation in a statewide initiative had impacted systemic change. The district with the longest history of professional learning teams had the highest reported level of impact on knowledge and skills at three levels of the system: district, school and classroom. In addition, two districts that had implemented professional learning teams reported the highest level of capacity for sustainability of reform efforts at the school-level.
Subject Area
Curricula|Teaching|School administration|Teacher education
Recommended Citation
Meyer, Michaelene A, "High-quality professional development: Teacher perceptions of practice within six Ohio districts engaged in standards -based reform" (2006). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI3215088.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI3215088