Topic/Objectives: With schools across England required to implement a new National Curriculum, it is timely explore how systems have approached this large-scale undertaking. The United States have been implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) over the past 4 years, which has led to schools, districts and systems across the United States to intensify their focus the professional learning of teachers to support teachers to implement the CCSS with fidelity. As a consequence the focus has also turned to the effectiveness of professional learning for teachers.

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors influencing teachers’ intentions to engage in professional learning on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in mathematics. The aim was to identify specific factors teachers encounter during professional learning that may facilitate implementation.  Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behavior was used to examine the underlying antecedent beliefs (factors) and the relative strengths of the three direct determinants (attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control) of teachers’ intentions to utilize the professional learning (based on the Math CCSS) to inform classroom instruction. Data for this quantitative study was collected from 151 teachers in an urban school district in California via an online self-report survey.  The teachers’ participated in a mathematics professional learning course that required participants’ to attend four full-day workshops, complimented by in classroom math coaching, throughout the 2013-2014 academic year. The questionnaire was completed at the conclusion of the second workshop.

The study addressed the following research questions:

1. Which of the three direct determinants of intention are statistically significant predictors of teachers’ intentions to use the professional learning their classrooms?

2. What are the potential enablers and barriers to the subsequent use of the professional learning?

3. Is the theory of planned behavior an appropriate conceptual framework for evaluating the participants’ intents to use the professional learning?

Theoretical Framework: The theory of planned behavior was used as a means to predict the intentions of teachers to actively engage in ongoing professional learning and modify teaching practices as a result of this process. Behavioral intention is the measure of likelihood that an individual will engage in a given behavior.  That is, how hard will they try, and how much of an effort are they planning to exert in order to perform the behavior (Ajzen, 1991).  As a general rule, the more favorable the attitude and subjective norm with respect to behavior, and the greater the perceived behavioral control, the stronger should be an individual’s intention to perform the behavior under consideration (Ajzen 1991).

The theory of planned behavior is a framework designed to predict and explain human behavior in specific contexts (Cheng, Lam, and Hsu 2005; Conner, Povey, Sparks, James & Shepherd, 2003; Shin 2004). According to the theory of planned behavior, the “main antecedent of an individual’s behavior is their intention toward the behavior; and in turn an individual’s behavioral intention is determined by three constructs” (Greaves, Zibarras & Stride, 2013, p.110). As Demir (2010) outlined, the theory of planned behavior has been broadly supported in empirical literature in different fields (Chiou 2000; King & Dennis 2003; Cheng, Lam, & Hsu 2005; Fusilier & Durlabhji 2005; Francis et al. 2004). Meta-analyses also indicate that the theory of planned behavior provides an explanation for a wide range of behaviors (Ajzen 1991; Armitage & Conner 2001; Cooke & Sheeran 2004; Godin & Kok 1996; Sheeran & Taylor 1999). Applying the theory of planned behavior to this research context suggests that a teacher’s behavioral intention (modifying practice as a result of professional learning) is jointly determined by his/her; attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control.

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