Intensive three-year professional development changed Leader Teachers' practice dramatically, but peer diffusion of reform was uneven¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · design r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2003 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Leader Teachers receiving nearly 500 hours of professional development over three years changed their practice dramatically and engaged students in inquiry regularly, though practice stabilized after three years. → Corcoran 2003 q2 i? After two years, the impact of Leader Teachers spreading reform to colleagues was uneven, with obstacles including credibility, time constraints, peer resentment, and lack of principal support. → Corcoran 2003 (2)

Evidence¶

Corcoran 2003¶

Corcoran, Tom. (2003). The Merck Institute for Science Education: A Successful Intermediary for Education Reform. CPRE Research Report Series RR-052. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED480404 doi:10.1037/e383112004-001

q2 · i? · design · r3

CPRE observations and surveys of Leader Teachers from the three-year voluntary Leader Teacher Institute, which enrolled more than 140 teachers across the four districts and focused each year on a different science domain.

"The Leader Teachers received nearly 500 hours of professional development over three years, and observations of their practice by CPRE researchers found that their teaching changed dramatically by the third year and was considerably above average on a National Science Foundation (NSF) observation classroom instrument."

Corcoran 2003 (2)¶

Corcoran, Tom. (2003). The Merck Institute for Science Education: A Successful Intermediary for Education Reform. CPRE Research Report Series RR-052. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED480404 doi:10.1037/e383112004-001

q2 · i? · design · r3

CPRE's account of the Leader Teacher diffusion strategy: success depended on selecting respected individuals with science interest and knowledge, principal support, and released time; prevailing norms of teacher autonomy made spreading inquiry difficult.

"After two years, however, it was clear that the impact of this change strategy was un- even. Some Leader Teachers were suc- cessfully engaging their colleagues but others encountered serious obstacles, such as their own credibility as science teachers, time constraints, peer resent- ment, and lack of principal support."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Network learning spread beyond the network through a website, conference presentations, school and district sharing, and AIR-led professional learning communities — related
• Non-participation in intensive professional development reflected enjoyment, preparation, and conceptions of professional development, not experience or science background — related
• Content familiarity, not teaching experience, predicted reform-based science teaching practice — related
• An intensive competency-based mastery workshop can be an effective diffusion strategy for statewide curriculum leaders to develop learning systems — related
• Without clear expectations and support from district leaders, coaches might not devote sufficient time to the full range of coaching activities needed to improve teachers' instruction — related
• An intensive principal professional development program did not change principals' practices in the ways intended by the program — related
• Teacher leaders can play a valuable role in supporting the professional learning of their colleagues — related
• Intensive training and residency programs for school leaders helped facilitate sharing of best practices, but some schools had not progressed to implementing the shared practices — related
• A two-year professional learning community helped eight REL Midwest researchers identify collaborative-research challenges and apply solutions in their alliance work — related
• Inquiry environments are hard to scale because they are ambitious learning activity systems requiring changes in roles, participation, and system coherence — related
• Professional learning, broadly defined to include teacher collaboration, coaching, and workshops, was the most important support strategy for instructional change — related
• In one survey, coached teachers more often report sustained, followed-up professional development than non-coached peers, and more than 81% received at least 30 minutes of one-on-one coaching a week — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Effective professional development is content focused, active, collaborative, modeled, coached, feedback-rich, and sustained over time — a broader claim this one bears on
• Insights from the National Writing Project's teacher-leader preparation are presented as relevant for facilitating professional learning in all areas of instruction — related
• Literacy coaching responsibilities fall into two major areas: teacher mentoring and literacy program advocacy — related
• Most teachers report precise identification of OER sources plus at least two diffusion improvements when implementing a diffusion strategy — related