Teacher Professional Development and Student Achievement Gains - Case Study Example

Teacher Professional Development and Achievement Gains Teacher Professional Development and Achievement Gains The achievement of students results from the work of knowledgeable, experienced, and skilled teachers. Therefore, there is a need to improve the knowledge and skills of teachers to ensure that the achievement of students is possible. Investment in education must include allocation of funds and time for professional development of teachers in elementary education. There are many options in developing the skills and knowledge of teachers. The most appropriate approaches to professional development aim at gaining high student performance. The research conducted on the professional development of teachers focus on the personal traits of teachers and classroom activities. Research helps to find the appropriate way of developing teachers so that students achieve high performance. This paper gives an analytical review of the teacher professional development, which is aim at increasing student learning and achievement. The activities and content, which must be included in teacher professional development, include student learning, skills of the teacher and the subject matter (Jogthong & Pimolbunyong, 2009). There are two categories of studies into the professional development and student achievement. The first category mainly focuses on the traditional teaching skills of teachers. The ability of a teacher in allocating adequate time for lessons is the area of assessment so that the teacher adequately develops his or her ability to allow sufficient time for student learning (Frampton & Vaughn, 2003, p. 292). The development of the teacher therefore should focus on enabling the teacher to be able to apply critical thinking and taking all learning factors into consideration in allocating time for lessons. For example, the teacher should be able to allocate time for lessons depending on the level of education, abilities of students, and the nature of the subject he is teaching. In teacher professional development, the ability of the teacher to provide vivid demonstrations in class is an important consideration. This will enable the development of the skills of the teacher towards ensuring that he is able to provide illustrations and demonstration in class so that the understanding is a priority. This is more important in elementary education where learners require instruction aids such as photographs as a way of enhancing leaning and student achievement (Ross & Bruce, 2007). The content and activities, which constitute teacher professional development, also include determination of the ability of the teacher on the student comprehension or understanding during learning. For successful achievement of learning by students, learners must comprehend what the content of the lesson (Jogthong & Pimolbunyong, 2009). Assumption of the teacher that students have understood the content of the lesson may be wrong. As a result, the professional development of elementary school teachers must enhance the skills of the teacher and knowledge as a way of ensuring that he is able to know whether students comprehend the information on the topic of discussion. This will promote student learning because a professionally developed teacher will be able to know the areas of the class topic, which he should repeat or demonstrate further to enhance student understanding (Frampton & Vaughn, 2003). In professional development of teachers, the skills of the teacher in maintaining the attention are also part of the enhancement of the skills of the teacher (Spencer, 2007, 211). Students in the elementary school are easily distracted. The teacher should be able to maintain the attention of students if the achievement of the leaning objectives is to be possible. The decisions on the success of professional development should therefore emanate from the ability of the teacher to ensure that students focus on the lesson. If there are distractions, the teacher should therefore have the skills of ensuring that the mind of the student returns to the classroom (Penuel, Fishman, Yamaguchi & Gallagher, 2007). Basic skills of the teacher such as arithmetic and phonetic abilities are part of the activities in the process of professional development (Ross & Bruce, 2007). Teacher professional development sometimes involves enhancement of the reasoning skills of the teacher. This is a way of ensuring that the teacher is able to engage students in the lesson through application of various strategies. A professionally developed teacher has ability to use reasoning skill in giving accurate information, asking relevant questions, and giving feedback to the students on their performance. As a result, the teacher motivates the students through interactive learning, which leads to good performance by the learners. Furthermore, the development of teachers aims at ensuring that their skills of supervising exercises are better than before (Jogthong & Pimolbunyong, 2009). The teaching practices, which teachers acquire during professional development, are congruent to research findings on student achievement through development of the skills of the teacher. The second category of research focuses on the subject matter of the lesson and the learning process of the students (Penuel, Fishman, Yamaguchi & Gallagher, 2007). In professional development, it is mandatory that a teacher master the content of the subject area of instruction. Moreover, a study of enhancing professional development and the resultant student achievement must be focused of the learning of students especially their reasoning and potential to solve problems. This is opposed to studies, which evaluate the basic skills of students. Professional development of teachers influences the classroom especially in the manner in which students perceive problems and therefore their ability to solve them. The teacher is able to apply various skills to encourage the students in coming up with answers to various arithmetic, scientific or grammatical problems. Mastery of the teacher on the subject is a crucial consideration in the professional development plan. This means that a teacher has sufficient knowledge on the subject and skills, which will facilitate the student learning process on the subject (Robinson & Carrington, 2002). The knowledge of the teacher on a subject grows during the professional development program so that he is able to impart the same knowledge to the students in the most appropriate way. This will lead to achievement of the goals of the learning process. Moreover, professional development is a way of ensuring that the teacher is able to apply relevant strategies and teaching practices (Jogthong & Pimolbunyong, 2009). The practices of instruction in the classroom is relate to the understanding of the student, their level of education and abilities. In professional development of teachers must allocate sufficient time for long-term development of the teacher (King & Newmann, 2001).This will ensure effectiveness in strengthening the knowledge of the teacher on the subject in addition to full enhancement of teaching skills. The program should be well designed and planned so that the development relates to the real life application in the classroom conditions. This therefore means that practical sessions and experiments are involved to assess the teacher as a way of ensuring the effectiveness of the program in achieving its goals (Penuel, Fishman, Yamaguchi & Gallagher, 2007). The allocation of sufficient time for the program also ensures that the evaluation of the professionally developed teachers is effective and elaborate. The assessment of the teacher professional development must be in line with the set standards of education including the school curriculum. This is a way of ensuring that the teachers are prepared with adequate knowledge and skills, which would facilitate the achievement of academic success of the learners. In conclusion, the goals of the learning process in schools keep on changing. The curriculum also revolutionizes to meet the changes in the education needs of students. The emphasis on the understanding of the teacher becomes necessary so that teachers are compliant to the developments in the education system. Studies have are carried out to determine the impact of professional development of teachers in promoting student achievement. The skills and knowledge of teachers improve through professional devilment. As a result, teachers are able to deeply understand the behavior and thinking of the student. High quality in education is the achievement of teacher professional development because the performance of both the student and the teacher significantly develop. References Jogthong, C., & Pimolbunyong, R. (2009). Participatory action research for school-based management and teacher professional development. Research in Higher Education Journal, 3, 1-8. Frampton, P., & Vaughn, V. (2003). The professional development school partnership: Is practice improving? Teacher and principals respond. Journal of Educational Administration, 41(3), 292-309 King, M., & Newmann, F. (2001). Building school capacity through professional development: Conceptual and empirical considerations. The International Journal of Educational Management, 15(2), 86. Penuel, W., Fishman, B., Yamaguchi, R., & Gallagher, L. (2007). What makes professional development effective? Strategies that foster curriculum implementation. American Educational Research Journal, 44(4), 921-958 Ross, J., & Bruce, C. (2007). Professional development effects on teacher efficacy: Results of randomized field trial. The Journal of Educational Research, 101(1), 50-60. Robinson, R., & Carrington, S. (2002). Professional development for inclusive schooling. The International Journal of Educational Management, 16(4), 239 Spencer, T. (2007). Cooperating teaching as a professional development activity. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 20(3-4), 211-226. Read More