Examining Teacher Efficacy in an Urban School District through an Induction and Mentoring Program

Induction and mentoring programs are being implemented throughout the nation by school districts as intensive professional development for new teachers. These programs are designed to accelerate the development of novice teachers as a strategy to improve the academic achievement of preschool to 12th-grade students. In an effort to assess the relative importance of school-level factors that might further such teachers\u27 growth, the purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of three cohorts of mentored teachers with respect to five working conditions: (a) colleagues\u27 contributions to new teachers\u27 professional growth; (b) principal support of new teachers\u27 professional growth; (c) adequate classroom space; (d) sufficient materials and supplies; and (e) collaboration with veteran teachers. This study was also designed to determine if there were differences in new teachers\u27 perceptions by characteristics such as the number of years they had been teaching, the length of time these new teachers worked with their mentors, and these new teachers\u27 level of education. This secondary analysis uses data previously collected from 169 mentored teachers who had been teaching between 1 and 3 years at the time of the original study and taught at 34 different schools within districts that serve a largely African American student population. The new teachers in the original study participated in a collaborative (i.e., school district and university) induction and mentoring program over a three-year period. These teachers completed an anonymous survey related to induction that was developed and administered by the New Teacher Center. The data used for secondary analysis in this study were derived from three successive administrations of this survey. Through various nonparametric statistical procedurres, findings indicated that new teachers rated items pertaining to their school\u27s social context (i.e., colleagues\u27 contributions to their professional growth, collaboration with veteran teachers, support of principals) highest. Conversely, the more material conditions of the school (i.e. adequacy of their classrooms, sufficiency of materials and supplies for instruction) were consistently rated lowest

The Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Project: A Purposeful Professional Development Initiative

The transition from Grade 8 to Grade 9 is particularly difficult for students who were not very successful in mathematics in Grade 8. Research into ways to improve this transition as well as improve the teaching practices at the Applied level will be helpful for teachers, administrators, and policy makers. The Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Project was a professional development initiative that brought together educators from nine schools across four neighbouring school districts in Ontario seeking to improve their Grade 9 Applied Mathematics program. As part of the Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Project, participants attended topic-specific workshops based on schools’ goals for professional growth and had opportunities to collaborate with other participants to create and share teaching materials for the Grade 9 Applied Mathematics course. Qualitative data from teacher interviews and written reflections indicate that the teachers felt that a mixture of collaboration and professional development made this project successful. Teachers also reported that the Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Project motivated further collaboration at the school and district level

Regenerating Professional Learning: The Influence Of Relationships On Teacher Identity, Agency, And Advocacy

Professional development for teachers gained more attention with the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 2001. However, reform efforts spurred by this act focused mainly on training for specific programs and curriculum materials, resulting in little attention to instruction. In the last thirty or more years, new approaches to professional development have emerged, with teacher leadership, in particular, gaining more attention in studies as an important mechanism for reforming classroom practice to raise student achievement. Research has mainly examined collaborative frameworks to sustain teacher growth through professional learning communities situated within the context of schools and districts. Future research focused on the role of relationships with mentors and professional networks outside schools and districts has the potential to advance a conceptual framework for transforming teacher practice and student learning. This study used social network analysis and narrative analysis as conceptual and analytical frameworks to understand how relationships among teachers in a community of practice influenced their practice and their growth. This study specifically considered the following broad question about professional learning: In what ways do relationships among National Writing Project teacher-consultants influence teacher-consultant’s growth as learners, writers, and teachers of writing? Data was collected through surveys of several participants and interviews with four informants; these teachers worked in the same school district and participated in the State Writing Project (SWP) at different times in their teaching careers. Participants indicated that they believed particular practices, such as reviewing student work and receiving feedback from colleagues was important to their professional growth. However, these participants also noted that they rarely participated in such activities. Also, the informants explained they chose to participate in the SWP because they sought ways to address the needs of their students and goals of their district, needs and goals not necessarily met with professional development experiences. This study analyzed the experiences of these informants in their teaching and learning about writing and their perceptions of their participation in the State Writing Project. Their stories suggest that colleagues with this social network of the SWP had a significant influence on their knowledge about and understanding of teaching writing. These SWP colleagues had an impact on revitalizing the informants’ enthusiasm for teaching, prompting a desire to enact particular practices in their schools and districts. Future studies could focus on these informal structures – these relationships within a network – as a way to support the professional learning of teachers. Additional studies might also examine how narratives serve both as a tool to understand these relationships and as a way to provide teachers opportunities to reflect on their growth as learners and teachers

Practices and challenges of school based continuous professional development in secondary schools of kemashi zone

The purpose of this study is to investigate the practices and challenges of school based teachers‟ continuous professional development in secondary schools of Kemashi Zone, Benishangul- Gumuz Regional State. The study is used four basic research questions. The research employed in the study was descriptive survey method, which is supplemented by qualitative data. The sampling techniques used included purposive, availability and simple random sampling. The sample size was 83 teachers, 14 department heads, seven principals, seven schools „continuous professional development facilitators, four woreda education office experts, four cluster supervisors and one zone education office expert with the total of 120 participants out of 151 study populations. The data gathering tools employed were questionnaire, interview as well as document analysis.The participants of interview were principals, department heads, Continuous Proffessional Development facilitators, cluster supervisors, woreda and zone education office experts. Questionnaire was administered to 83 teachers of which 80 of them were properly filled and returned. Then, the information gathered through closed-ended questionnaire was analyzed using percentage, frequency, standard deviation, and mean score while the data gathered through interview and open-ended questions were narrated qualitatively. Results of the document analysis were also described. The findings indicated that the extent to which teachers engagement in professional development activities such as mentoring, portfolio development, conducting action research, facilitating group discussions and peer observations, and evaluating the overall successes and failures of the implementation processes were inadequately implemented. The school principals, professional development facilitators, senior teachers, woreda and zone education office experts were providing insufficient support for the teachers. The major challenges identified were, lack of training, lack of action research, lack of fulfilling Continuous Professional Development materials, lack of trained facilitators, insufficiency of supports provided for teachers growth, insufficient allocation of budget, lack of peer coaching and peer evaluation, and absence of induction program, were identified by this research as the serious challenges of Continuous Professional Development realization in secondary schools of Kemashi Zone. To overcome the challenges encountered, recommendations have been forwarded. These include: orienting teachers in advance with the overall contents of the professional growth, motivating teachers to willingly take more responsibilities in the implementation process, employing trained facilitators, and allocation of sufficient resources to effectively achieve the intended goals. Moreover, Woreda education office has to allocate the necessary school budget.Jimma Universit

Usability and Feasibility of Data-Based Instruction for Students with Intensive Writing Needs

A small proportion of students do not benefit sufficiently from standard intervention protocols and require more intensive, individualized instruction. Data-based instruction (DBI) has a strong evidence base for addressing students’ intensive academic needs, yet it is not widely implemented. In this study, we explored the usability and feasibility of a professional development system to support teachers’ use of DBI in writing. Data analyzed using a mixed-methods design revealed that teachers perceived supports such as coaching as facilitators of DBI implementation, whereas access to materials and external factors such as time conflicts presented challenges. Teachers made statistically significant growth from pretest to posttest on a measure of DBI knowledge and skills, implemented DBI components with fidelity, and reported that time spent on DBI activities decreased each week, supporting its usability and feasibility. Findings suggest that DBI is usable and feasible when teachers are provided ongoing professional development supports

Creating Space for Pre-service Teacher Professional Development During Practicum: A Teacher Educator’s Self-study.

This article reports on my self-study of leading cohorts of Bachelor of Education student teachers through collaborative reflections applying reflective questions strategy during four weeks of residential practicum in a rural school. I explore the potential for reflective questions approach as an effective tool for reflection and professional learning in teaching and mentoring pre-service teachers. Data consisted of journal entries describing my experiences as classroom teacher and teacher educator and, of teaching and mentoring groups of students during residential practicum. Reading teacher education as text and, the audio recorded collaborative reflection conversations also provided data. Students’ documented personal and collaborative reflections were additional source materials. Data analysis employed qualitative procedures of content analysis and coding to determine themes relevant to both my and student teachers’ professional development. Engaging in this self-study based on reflective questions was essential for confronting my own assumptions and beliefs about mentoring and teaching teachers. This led to the growth of my and the students’ critical reflection and quality of professional thought and, a re-examination of my approach to mentoring and teaching students during residential practicum. Findings also indicate growth of students’ general pedagogical knowledge, confidence, independence and autonomy

Teachers\u27 perceptions of professional development and pedagogical practice: a study of a Kentucky suburban school district.

Professional development supports teacher growth and enhances pedagogical practice. Teachers in Kentucky must complete annual professional development hours and districts must develop a professional development plan tied to research that supports high-quality professional development. This qualitative case study takes place in a rural district, Bullitt County, where I investigated the teachers’ perception of a customized professional development, Thinking Focus Cohort (TFC), and its impact on their pedagogical practice. While a body of research exists on high quality professional development, there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of it, in particular a year-long cohort model with curriculum centered around four pillars: learning of community, thinking strategies, gradual release of responsibility, and academic discourse. This study drew upon data collected from document analysis, semi-structured interviews and group level assessment (GLA). Document analysis provided an understanding of materials used throughout TFC and feedback gathered from outside observers and participants. The semi-structured interviews provided insight into participants’ perspectives on their experience of TCF. GLA questions functioned to fill the gap of information which addressed teachers’ perceptions of the Thinking Focus Cohort and its influence on teachers’ pedagogical practice, specifically focusing on the participants’ experience as a community of learners as well as their intentional pedagogical practices. Findings show the customized professional development, TFC, impacted teachers’ pedagogical practice from their perspective after reviewing the participants’ responses aligned with the selective codes. First, participants were able to identify intentional pedagogical practices they implemented, which also created higher teacher and student efficacy. Next, participants revealed the importance of instructional coaches serving as mentors to foster the perceived pedagogical changes. Finally, participants discussed how the teacher rounds provided exemplar modeling of the intended instructional strategies and created an avenue for collaboration throughout the district. In summary, the transformational changes to teachers’ pedagogical practice was supported through a year-long cohort of modeling instructional strategies tied to the curriculum while meeting monthly was enhanced through instructional coaches and teacher rounds. The demands of teaching have evolved -in part due to high stakes accountability systems. This is coupled with the hemorrhage of teachers leaving the profession for more personal and professional reasons. Professional development is a means for teachers to experience critical support through collaboration, thus resulting in pedagogical changes. The effective professional development and the desired results point directly to implications for policy and practice to mitigate compliance driven by regulations and law, suggesting instead the creation of structures to evaluate the effectiveness of professional development. This also points directly to examining the style of delivery and methods of support within the evaluation system of professional development. Teachers become models of continued learning focusing on improving their pedagogical practice. This study reveals the importance of high-quality professional development as a means to positively impact a teacher’s pedagogical practice

The Professional Development of Teachers for International Contexts: A Case Study of Concordia Language Villages\u27 Study Abroad Programs

In the face of globalization, educational institutions the world over have developed institutional learning outcomes that seek to graduate students who are culturally competent. To accomplish this goal, colleges and schools must have a faculty who is prepared to facilitate student growth in this regard or provide the faculty with professional development opportunities to achieve that end. Concordia Language Villages, an intensive language and culture education program sponsored by Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, is intentional in its mission to prepare young people for responsible citizenship and has professional development opportunities available to personnel in their programs and educators; however, teachers in the Concordia Language Villages\u27 abroad programs have additional professional development needs that heretofore have not been fully addressed. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the professional development needs for teachers in the Study Abroad programs at Concordia Language Villages, which take place every summer in Argentina, Cameroon, China, France, Germany, Japan, and Spain. The research questions were: (1) What professional development activities are currently taking place in Concordia Language Villages\u27 Study Abroad programs? (2) What are the professional development needs of teachers in Concordia Language Villages\u27 Study Abroad programs? (3) How should professional development opportunities be delivered to teachers employed in Concordia Language Villages\u27 Study Abroad programs? A case study with mixed-methodology design was used to evaluate the professional education needs of teachers for Concordia Language Villages\u27 Study Abroad programs, which was carried out online, through e-mail and survey tools, and in person at the Concordia Language Villages in Bemidji, Minnesota, during the spring of 2008. Document analysis of existing professional development materials, a survey of 55 members of Concordia Language Villages\u27 leadership staff, and a focus group yielded the identification of core competencies, skills, and abilities valued by the organization and appropriate to the abroad setting. A model of intercultural competence served as the conceptual framework to examine the competencies identified, which in addition to intercultural competence included knowledge of the institution, its mission statement, guiding principles of language teaching, and youth development, and application of that knowledge to target cultures

Inclusive Settings: RTI in the General Education Classroom

The premise of this study was derived upon seeing a severe need for professional development in my current field work experience. I set out to determine a possible solution to the lack of cohesion among general and special educators evident in my local school district. This small town rural school is looking to expand RTI, and intervention technique, to decrease gaps in education for at risk students. With issues of cohesion and professional development evident, I collected and analyzed data in order to determine a way the school district can still incorporate and expand their Response to Intervention (RTI) practices. Upon conducting an open interview with teachers at the school, I determined there were many more issues standing in the way of creating an effective system of RTI at the school. Teachers described lack of understanding of founding principles and procedures of RTI as well as their role in its implementation. In the course of data collection, I found teachers to be missing training and materials at their availability in order to successfully make RTI a part of their daily teaching. Based on the data I collected through interviews with teachers at the school, I determined multiple possible next steps that together help may help them to create an effective RTI program. These include online professional development modules, a schoolwide RTI procedure and policy staff handbook, and a readymade RTI toolkit accessible to all teachers for each grade and content area. With these available and ongoing supports in place by administration, I believe this school could see an improvement in collaboration between educators and the growth of an impactful RTI program for their at risk students