This paper is a research proposal for a dissertation on how professional development exercises positively or negatively impacts teacher performance in the classroom. Schools are increasingly using professional development and training to improve instruction and to meet common core standards. The proposed qualitative research focuses on teacher perceptions versus quantitative analysis of performance.
¶ … Professional Learning and Development -- the Teacher's Perspective
The recent debate over standards-based education has tended to focus upon student performance in regards to standardized testing and the rise of common core standards. However, an equally critical component of the question of improving our nation's schools is the training and education of teachers. Receiving a degree in education is only the beginning of the teacher's development as an educator. This proposed research project will examine teacher perceptions of professional development exercises and how they believe it has influenced their efficacy in the classroom and student performance.
According to the 2013 report issued by the Center for Public Education entitled Teaching the teachers, "recent education reforms have urged teachers to foster collaboration, debate and reflection amongst students, in order to develop cognitive processes like those called for in the new standards. Ironically, districts rarely apply these same learning techniques to developing teachers. At the same time, teacher's performance is increasingly tied to their students. This is a disparity that must be corrected" (Gulamhussein 2013). The report found that even experienced teachers struggled with implementing new approaches in the classroom: "studies have shown it takes, on average, 20 separate instances of practice, before a teacher has mastered a new skill, with that number increasing along with the complexity of the skill" (Gulamhussein 2013). Often, there was inadequate support for teachers to make such needed shifts in their classroom pedagogy.
The most common form of teacher training was workshops (90% of the teachers in the report participated in this type of training) but this was found to be one of the least effective ways to improve instruction. One-on-one mentorship and coaching was deemed to be more helpful in which a 'master teacher' provides specific feedback on a teacher's performance in class. Overall, specificity was found to be the most useful aspect of training exercises. "Regardless of whether teachers are working with coaches or in professional learning communities, teachers need to be working with the content they teach. Teachers don't find professional development on generic topics useful" (Gulamhussein 2013).
Research method
This qualitative research study will take place at a single secondary school with 105 teachers. Professional development and training exercises are integrated into the approach of the school. The educators will answer questionnaires about the types of professional development and training they have received at the school and in the past and a select number will be asked to participate in semi-structured interviews about their experiences. Topics will include a comparison of different types of training, how training impacts student performance, and how to improve training.
Overall, a 'case study' approach will be used for this research project. One school will be selected, the school in which I am currently a vice principal. "This qualitative case study is an approach to research that facilitates exploration of a phenomenon within its context using a variety of data sources. This ensures that the issue is not explored through one lens, but rather a variety of lenses which allows for multiple facets of the phenomenon to be revealed and understood" (Baxter & Jack 2008:544).
Ethics
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