Exploring the Relationship Between Professional Development and Student Achievement

Exploring the Relationship Between Professional Development and Student Achievement

Author: Tamora LaShawn Jackson

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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Abstract The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between professional development and student achievement by addressing three major standards of professional learning: content, process, and context. This study included 276 teachers from 28 middle schools. Data from this study was gathered using the Standards Assessment Inventory (SAI) survey instrument designed by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) and publicly available achievement data from the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP), a criterion-referenced achievement test. The Standards Assessment Inventory (SAI) was used to examine teachers' perceptions of professional development at the school level. The overall purpose of this study was to collect, analyze, and use existing data to answer the following research question: Based on the National Staff Development Council (NSDC) professional learning standards, is there a positive correlation between teachers' perception of professional development at a school-based level and student achievement? The following sub-questions guided this research: (1) Is there a relationship between the "context" of school-level professional development based on the NSDC standards and student achievement in mathematics and reading/language, as measured by TCAP scores? (2) Is there a relationship between the "process" of school-level professional development based on the NSDC standards and student achievement in mathematics and reading/language, as measured by TCAP scores? (3) Is there a relationship between the "content" of school-level professional development based on the NSDC standards and student achievement in mathematics and reading/language, as measured by TCAP scores?Data for this research was analyzed using statistical computational methods. The results from the data analysis determined that there were several positive significant relationships between the National Staff Development Council standards of professional learning and student achievement.


Handbook of Research on Student Engagement

Handbook of Research on Student Engagement

Author: Sandra L. Christenson

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-02-23

Total Pages: 839

ISBN-13: 1461420172

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For more than two decades, the concept of student engagement has grown from simple attention in class to a construct comprised of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components that embody and further develop motivation for learning. Similarly, the goals of student engagement have evolved from dropout prevention to improved outcomes for lifelong learning. This robust expansion has led to numerous lines of research across disciplines and are brought together clearly and comprehensively in the Handbook of Research on Student Engagement. The Handbook guides readers through the field’s rich history, sorts out its component constructs, and identifies knowledge gaps to be filled by future research. Grounding data in real-world learning situations, contributors analyze indicators and facilitators of student engagement, link engagement to motivation, and gauge the impact of family, peers, and teachers on engagement in elementary and secondary grades. Findings on the effectiveness of classroom interventions are discussed in detail. And because assessing engagement is still a relatively new endeavor, chapters on measurement methods and issues round out this important resource. Topical areas addressed in the Handbook include: Engagement across developmental stages. Self-efficacy in the engaged learner. Parental and social influences on engagement and achievement motivation. The engaging nature of teaching for competency development. The relationship between engagement and high-risk behavior in adolescents. Comparing methods for measuring student engagement. An essential guide to the expanding knowledge base, the Handbook of Research on Student Engagement serves as a valuable resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in such varied fields as clinical child and school psychology, educational psychology, public health, teaching and teacher education, social work, and educational policy.


Relationship Between Professional Development Expenditures and Student Achievement

Relationship Between Professional Development Expenditures and Student Achievement

Author: Elizabeth A. Dalton

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13:

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This study was based on convergence of two educational theories: 1) that professional development improves teacher quality and instructional practices and therefore positively affects student achievement and 2) allocation of school resources positively affects student achievement. It is a common educational belief that professional development activities influence teacher quality through increased content knowledge and instructional skills. It is assumed that once teachers incorporate new teaching skills, students will be more engaged in learning, and student achievement will increase. Recent research on professional development effectiveness provided little empirical evidence of professional development effectiveness (Guskey & Yoon, 2009). This study extended professional development effectiveness and resource allocation theories to professional development expenditures and student achievement. The research question was: What is the relationship between professional development expenditures and student achievement? This study collected and analyzed professional development expenditures and student achievement data for 2007 for middle and high schools (N=426, N=1234 respectively) in Texas. A partial correlation, controlling for socioeconomic status and English proficiency, revealed that there is no relationship between professional development expenditures and 8th grade student achievement in language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science. High school results revealed small, but negative relationships between professional development expenditures and student achievement in English, mathematics, and science. Consequently, the study concluded that expenditures for professional development are not yielding positive returns in the student achievement domain.


Professional Capital

Professional Capital

Author: Andy Hargreaves

Publisher: Teachers College Press

Published: 2015-04-24

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0807771708

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The future of learning depends absolutely on the future of teaching. In this latest and most important collaboration, Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan show how the quality of teaching is captured in a compelling new idea: the professional capital of every teacher working together in every school. Speaking out against policies that result in a teaching force that is inexperienced, inexpensive, and exhausted in short order, these two world authorities--who know teaching and leadership inside out--set out a groundbreaking new agenda to transform the future of teaching and public education. Ideas-driven, evidence-based, and strategically powerful, Professional Capital combats the tired arguments and stereotypes of teachers and teaching and shows us how to change them by demanding more of the teaching profession and more from the systems that support it. This is a book that no one connected with schools can afford to ignore. This book features: (1) a powerful and practical solution to what ails American schools; (2) Action guidelines for all groups--individual teachers, administrators, schools and districts, state and federal leaders; (3) a next-generation update of core themes from the authors' bestselling book, "What's Worth Fighting for in Your School?" [This book was co-published with the Ontario Principals' Council.].


Teacher Quality, Instructional Quality and Student Outcomes

Teacher Quality, Instructional Quality and Student Outcomes

Author: Trude Nilsen

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-09-19

Total Pages: 167

ISBN-13: 3319412523

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This volume offers insights from modeling relations between teacher quality, instructional quality and student outcomes in mathematics across countries. The relations explored take the educational context, such as school climate, into account. The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement’s Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the only international large-scale study possessing a design framework that enables investigation of relations between teachers, their teaching, and student outcomes in mathematics. TIMSS provides both student achievement data and contextual background data from schools, teachers, students and parents, for over 60 countries. This book makes a major contribution to the field of educational effectiveness, especially teaching effectiveness, where cross-cultural comparisons are scarce. For readers interested in teacher quality, instructional quality, and student achievement and motivation in mathematics, the comparisons across cultures, grades, and time are insightful and thought-provoking. For readers interested in methodology, the advanced analytical methods, combined with application of methods new to educational research, illustrate interesting novel directions in methodology and the secondary analysis of international large-scale assessment (ILSA).


Planning, Instruction, and Assessment

Planning, Instruction, and Assessment

Author: Leslie Grant

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-02

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 1317924401

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This entry in the James H. Stronge Research-to-Practice Series focuses on specific strategies teachers can use to improve the quality of their instruction. Studies have shown teacher quality to be the top indicator of student achievement, with the effects of good teachers apparent even as students move on to successive grades. In this book, Grant, Hindman, and Stronge explore the relationship between teacher effectiveness and student learning. They provide a bridge between research-based theories and practical classroom applications. Templates, planning forms, and other reproducibles help teachers make a noticeable impact on student success using proven techniques and practices. Topics include tiered lessons, using assessment data, and much more.


Professional Communities and the Work of High School Teaching

Professional Communities and the Work of High School Teaching

Author: Milbrey W. McLaughlin

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2001-10-20

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9780226500706

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American high schools have never been under more pressure to reform: student populations are more diverse than ever, resources are limited, and teachers are expected to teach to high standards for all students. While many reformers look for change at the state or district level, the authors here argue that the most local contexts—schools, departments, and communities—matter the most to how well teachers perform in the classroom and how satisfied they are professionally. Their findings—based on one of the most extensive research projects ever done on secondary teaching—show that departmental cultures play a crucial role in classroom settings and expectations. In the same school, for example, social studies teachers described their students as "apathetic and unwilling to work," while English teachers described the same students as "bright, interesting, and energetic." With wide-ranging implications for educational practice and policy, this unprecedented look into teacher communities is essential reading for educators, administrators, and all those concerned with U. S. High Schools.


Evaluating Professional Development

Evaluating Professional Development

Author: Thomas R. Guskey

Publisher: Corwin Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9780761975618

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Explains how to better evaluate professional development in order to ensure that it increases student learning, providing questions for accurate measurement of professional development and showing how to demonstrate results and accountability.


Strengthening and Enriching Your Professional Learning Community

Strengthening and Enriching Your Professional Learning Community

Author: Geoffrey Caine

Publisher: ASCD

Published: 2012-05-29

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1416612718

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How can educators create a collective method of professional development that results in the genuine, sustained teacher learning essential to improving student achievement? That question is at the heart of this comprehensive and practical guide to process learning circles, a unique and powerful way to develop, strengthen, and enrich professional learning communities. Authors Geoffrey and Renate N. Caine have dedicated more than 20 years to researching how people learn naturally. From this foundation, they describe in detail how process learning circles work, and they provide readers with a clear understanding of how powerful and successful this approach to professional learning can be. Along the way, they explore * The three critical elements of great professional development * How to create a field of listening * The logistics and phases of process learning circles * Tips for success as a process leader * The effects of individual differences and group dynamics * Principles for developing a process that works Examples from schools that have implemented process learning circles provide evidence of the method's success, and the authors also include an explanation of 12 underlying brain/mind learning principles, guidelines for using online tools, and broader suggestions for how to move from teaching for memorization to teaching for understanding. Written with both teachers and administrators in mind, Strengthening and Enriching Your Professional Learning Community: The Art of Learning Together is an essential guide to professional learning and development that works.