Session Information
Contribution
This paper shares the results of recent research on an innovative approach to graduate teacher education and explores policy implications for continuing professional development among multiple stakeholders: schools, school districts or local governments, universities, and national governments.
The College of Education within a major research university in the southeastern United States has redesigned its graduate teacher education programs for in-service teachers as an innovative approach to develop teacher leaders who facilitate school reform. The program is delivered to full-time teachers in four large school districts across a heavily populated state through a blended delivery approach involving online coursework that scaffolds the co-construction of teacher knowledge and the direct support of professors-in-residence who live and work in the teachers’ communities and schools. The program focuses on developing teachers in three goal areas to become: (1) master teachers who are skilled facilitators of student learning; (2) teacher researchers who utilize inquiry to collect evidence of the effectiveness of their practice; and (3) teacher leaders who improve student performance across the school by collaborating with colleagues in ongoing professional learning. Since its inception in 2006, over 400 teachers have enrolled in the program. In 2010, the university and a school district partner were awarded a $5 million development grant from the US Department of Education (USDOE) as part of the first cohort of the Investing in Innovation (i3) project, which aims to rigorously evaluate and scale promising strategies.
Recent research on the graduate degree program includes an evaluation of program impact on student performance on standardized achievement tests in math and reading, which demonstrated a statistically significant difference on average learning gains of students in the classrooms of participating teachers with effects exhibited when teachers began the program and continuing on after graduation (Leite & Jimenez, 2012). This paper seeks to add to the understanding of how the program can achieve such results by analyzing interviews completed with 30 students currently enrolled in the program through the USDOE-funded project. Specifically, the paper describes key components of the program identified by participants as vital to their development in the three goal areas. Further, the paper discusses policy recommendations for stakeholders and others interested in employing similar strategies.
This interview study employs a pragmatic inquiry approach (Biesta & Burbules, 2003). Conceptually, this approach connects with the study of inquiry-based, collaborative teacher education because it epitomizes the inquiry stance that is cultivated by the initiative under study. This study positions itself within a tradition of inquiry as a transformative process, seeking not only to understand the problem under scrutiny, but also to improve the situation. This tradition reflects the investigative spirit that generates “knowledge of practice” (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999).
The generation of knowledge of practice around teacher leadership development makes a key contribution to ongoing work across the globe on teacher leadership as continuing professional development. The topic is clearly of great interest and concern as evidenced by a recent special issue of the international journal, Professional Development in Education (2012).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Alexandrou, A. & Swaffield, S. (Eds.) (2012). Special issue: Teacher leadership and professional development: perspectives, connections, and prospects. Professional Development in Education, 38(2). Biesta, G.J.J. & Burbules, N.C. (2003). Pragmatism and educational research. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S.L. (1999). Relationships of knowledge and practice: Teacher learning in communities. Review of Research in Education, 24, 249-305. Cordingley, P., Bell, M. Thomason, S., & Firth, A. (2005). The impact of collaborative continuing professional development (CPD) on classroom teaching and learning. Review: How do collaborative and sustained CPD and sustained but not collaborative CPD affect teaching and learning? In Research Evidence in Education Library. London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London. Leite, W. & Jimenez, F. (2012). Estimating program effects with the short interrupted time-series design and multilevel models: An application to the evaluation of a job-embedded master’s degree program for teachers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Florida Educational Research Association, Gainesville, FL. MacBeath, J. & Dempster, N. (Eds.) (2008). Connecting leadership and learning: Principles for practice. London: Routledge. Muijs, D. & Harris, A. (2006). Teacher led school improvement: Teacher leadership in the UK. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22, 961-972. Smeets, K. & Ponte, P. (2009). Action research and teacher leadership. Professional Development in Education, 35(8), 175-193. Spillane, J.P., Halverson, R., & Diamond, J.B. (2004). Towards a theory of leadership practice: A distributed perspective. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 36(1), 3-34. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. York-Barr, J. & Duke, K. (2004). What do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from two decades of scholarship. Review of Educational Research, 74(3), 255-316.
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