Effective professional development is content focused, active, collaborative, modeled, coached, feedback-rich, and sustained over time¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r? · q2
Currency · newest study 2021 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Professional development models that support educators' practice share seven features: content focus, active learning, collaboration, modeling, coaching and expert support, feedback and reflection, and sustained duration. → Darling-Hammond 2021

Evidence¶

Darling-Hammond 2021¶

Darling-Hammond, L., Flook, L., Schachner, A., & Wojcikiewicz, S. (with Cantor, P., & Osher, D.). (2021). Educator learning to enact the science of learning and development. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/859.776

q2 · i? · review · r?

The report's synthesis of research on professional development lists these seven shared features of effective PD models in its section on creating systems that support educator learning. It states such approaches "are sustained over time," though no effect sizes are reported for the synthesis.

"Effective professional development models that support educators' practice share several features. These approaches: are content focused, incorporate active learning, support collaboration and space for teachers to learn together, use modeling of effective practice, provide coaching and expert support, offer opportunities for feedback and reflection, and are sustained over time."

Studies bearing on this claim¶

Does professional development tied to the curriculum teachers teach, modelled by accomplished teachers and sustained with on-site support change teaching and students' results? This table gathers the studies behind this claim and the 12 narrower claims that bear on it: 8 distinct studies (3 review, 2 qualitative, 1 design, 1 associational, 1 causal), q2–q3, 0 of 8 with an effect size coded. One row per study, codes as each entry records them; no effect is averaged and no verdict is drawn. Built by scripts/synthesize_claim.py from eval/synthesis/; a row that looks wrong is fixed on the claim it comes from.

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Intensive three-year professional development changed Leader Teachers' practice dramatically, but peer diffusion of reform was uneven — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Teacher activities in CHSRI small schools' professional communities were primarily oriented toward supportive rather than developmental practices — related
• Small school contexts may both enable and constrain professional communities: collegiality rises but heavy workloads make collective instructional focus difficult — related
• Pilot participants earned micro-credentials aligned to their coaching challenges, and a school leader described micro-credentials as a strategy for increasing teachers' professional development — related
• Four relational components—positive feedback, rapport, mutual respect, and reciprocal trust—form the relational framework of coaching — related
• Micro-credentials incorporate prominent features of effective professional development: they are content-focused, job-embedded, and incorporate active learning — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Teachers with a local coach completed far more of the intended Write to Succeed professional learning activities than teachers without one — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Collaboration appeared in 32 of 35 reviewed studies, and collaborative PD models showed student achievement gains — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Content-focused, job-embedded PD linked to student gains: 31 of 35 reviewed studies featured a specific content focus — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Non-participation in intensive professional development reflected enjoyment, preparation, and conceptions of professional development, not experience or science background — related
• Teachers prefer professional learning led by their colleagues over training from outside consultants — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Active learning was incorporated in 34 of 35 reviewed effective PD studies — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• All 35 reviewed studies used models or modeling, and curriculum without PD support yielded worse outcomes than older curriculum with none — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Coaching is more effective when it is job-embedded with frequent face-to-face interaction between coach and teacher — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• STeLLA content-plus-pedagogy PD produced greater student science gains than content-only training — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• District-provided instructional resources supported strong practices only when instruction-ready and tied to professional learning; other resources showed a null or negative relationship — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• District leaders use learning walks and ongoing professional learning to reinforce clear, consistent expectations for curriculum use over time — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Coaching and expert support appeared in 30 of 35 studies, with coached classrooms showing larger gains in a randomized trial — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Late-career teachers prefer socially embedded and collaborative learning opportunities such as mentoring, dialogue and reflective practice — a narrower finding that bears on this claim