What Makes Professional Development Effective - Annotated Bibliography Example

ANNOTATED PROFESSIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY Name Institution Academic Journal Articles Garet, M., Porter, A., Desimone, L., Birman, B, & Yoon, K. (2001). What makes professional development effective? Results from a national sample of teachers. American Education Research Journal, 38(4), 915–945. This study clearly outlines the appropriate background of professional development. It clearly describes the characteristics and definition of excellent professional development. However, the authors note the existence of a dismal need to study the relationship between professional development and teacher and student outcomes that are positive. The aim of this investigation is, therefore, to determine the factors that make professional learning effective and connect them to teacher and student outcomes. The journal also describes the details of professional learning by surveying over 1000 science and mathematics teachers. The teachers were specifically asked to answer self-report questionnaires on their behaviors and experiences. Three core features that enhance professional learning were also determined and these are: opportunities for active learning, a focus on content knowledge and consistency with other learning activities. The structural features of this form of development were also determined in relation to the duration of the activity, the type of the activity and the overall involvement of instructors taken from the same subject, school and grade. This journal suggests that the most efficient style of professional development is persistent and needs sufficient time. Consistency and focusing on content have a progressive effect on enhanced tutor skills and knowledge. This suggests that professional development that is focused on the main content and coupled with other professional learning factors results in better teacher outcomes. This study addresses the tutor professional standards 6.1 as it outlines ways to identify professional development needs and 6.4 as it focuses on the improvement of student learning needs to be identified by the tutors. Goddard, R., Hoy, W., & Hoy, A. (2000). Collective teacher efficacy: Its meaning, measure, and impact on student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 37(2), 479–507. This journal focuses on the study of the collective teacher efficiency. Teachers were sampled from 70 schools (one from each) in five states to test the Teacher Efficacy Scale. They also did a sense of powerlessness scale, a measure of teacher trust in colleagues and an individual teacher efficiency scale. The author’s presumed that the collective teacher would be directly related to individual teacher trust in colleagues and efficiency. They also predicted that it would be indirectly related to the degree of conflict and a sense of powerlessness. This means that the overall performance of learners will be the result of the collective efficacy of the instructor; their performance will determine the performance of the student to a great extent. The journal suggests that a poorly performing teacher may result to poor performance from the students and vice versa. These predictions proved correct as teacher powerlessness and conflict were negatively related to the efficiency of tutors. The relationship between trust and collective efficiency of the teacher was significant and positive. The tutor efficacy scales were proven to be consistent and valid; they proved that the overall efficiency of the teacher could be used to predict the final achievement of the learner in reading and mathematics than demographic data. This journal provides knowledge on ways of working with colleagues through research thus making it relevant to professional standards 6.1. It is also partly relevant to professional standards 6.2 since it also suggests ways to integrate individual professional learning system or institutional priorities and in the process eliminates potential conflicts between these two. Professional Journal Articles Voltz, D. L., Brazil, N., & Scott, R. (2003). Professional development for culturally responsive instruction: A promising practice for addressing the disproportionate representation of students of color in special education. Teacher Education and Special Education, 26(1), 63–73. This article outlines the implementation and results of CRISP. This was a professional development program directed towards instructors which was aimed to enhance the responsiveness of teachers towards culturally inclined behavior and learning variations in the learning place. A number of instructors participated in a seminar after which they scheduled and came up with professional development activities for sites belonging to their institutions. The main focus of this professional development was five key scopes of multicultural education and these included: empowering school culture, equity pedagogy, content integration, reduction of prejudice, and the knowledge construction process. The authors noted that the opportunities in professional learning had boosted their skills and knowledge associated with instructing with a multicultural outlook. They also discovered the incorporation of multicultural content into classes and the use of various aptitudes in teaching suggesting that opportunities in professional development have the ability to affect how teachers perceive addressing cultural differences in the class as a problem. This journal recommends the knowledge and understanding of the different cultures and beliefs existing in schools. Understanding the cultural background of students can help the tutor understand the learner’s prior knowledge and pick up from there; they can also research on the best methods to teach the learners depending on the backgrounds, or come up with and overall teaching mechanism for best performance. This article is mostly relevant to professional standards 6.1 because it provides a detailed understanding on the various aspects of professional learning requirements. It also presents one way of integrating individual professional development and system priorities and therefore getting rid of possible conflict between them making it relevant to professional standards 6.2. Professional standards 6.4 is also relevant here since the article suggests student focused methods by understanding and taking into account their diverse cultures. Musanti, S., & Pence, L. (2010). Collaboration and teacher development: Unpacking resistance, constructing knowledge, and navigating identities. Teacher Education Quarterly, 37(1), 73– 89. The Collaboration Centers Project (CPP) study is clearly presented in this article. The CPP is a federally funded three-year program which focused on helping tutors to address the various needs of English language learners more effectively in their learning institutions. This journal article combined the features of critical incident methodology and narrative inquiry to examine the current cooperation generated by the CPP program so as to deliver a multifaceted knowledge on how collaborative and interconnected professional development affects tutors and the way these same tutors impact professional development. The journal article accounts the stories told by the bilingual teachers who speak English as a second language from one school district that were trained to be co-facilitators. It gives a detailed description of two important instances then the authors give their concluding reflections on the results. The teachers confirmed that professional development should be regarded as a combined initiative. This brings about a learning point over dialogue, mutual exchange and mutual exchange. They additionally stated that the presence of resistance is inevitable in professional development plans and it should be redefined as a positive force for transformation. This article is relevant to the professional standard 6.1 as it identifies the need for teachers to teach as a team and serve as role models for best results. It is also relevant to 6.1 as it encourages the tutors to engage in the above mentioned practices in order to improve the teaching performance and outcomes. It is also relevant to professional development 6.3 as teachers have the opportunity to share their scenarios and how they handled them; this way others can give their views and perspectives. Websites Minnici, A., & Leo, S. (2013). Perspectives: Toward teacher evaluation that promotes professional learning and growth. Retrieved from http://www.advanc- ed.org/issues in education/perspectives/toward-teacher-evaluation-promotes- professional-learning-and-growth This article was posted by AdvancED and it brings up the main matters to consider in nurturing the professional growth of the teacher. Minnici and Leo indicate that evaluation systems are required to do more than just assess the teachers in order for them to improve. They should make available professional development opportunities that are directed towards their progress. This website article addresses a chain of behaviors which include progressive problem solving, motivation and reinvestment of mental resources that have been acknowledged by researchers that have a role to play in the expertise development. The two writers argue that a change from professional development to professional learning, student, focused, job-rooted, progressive development methodology to teacher development is needed. This method requires a structural change in professional learning towards another that is: first, embedded in the teaching context, collaborative and progressive. Secondly, it should be joined to the knowledge, expertise and behaviors that delineate effective teaching. Lastly, it should be individualized to the learners and take various formulae contingent on the skills, needs and experience of the particular instructor. They also discuss implication for schools and districts in creating evaluation systems that nurture professional growth. The professional development standard 6.1 is also relevant in this article as it suggests a shift in professional learning to a better one. 6.2 comes in where the shift is said to bring about improved performance and more effective results. The article is also quite relevant to professional standards 6.4 since it discusses the implementation of a different method that is more relevant to the needs of the learner. Coggshall, J. G., Rasmussen, C., Colton, A., Milton, J., & Jacques, C. (2012). Generating teaching effectiveness: The role of job-embedded professional learning in teacher evaluation. Retrieved from: http://www.gtlcenter.org/sites/default/files/docs/GeneratingTeachingEffectivenes s.pdf This is a research review that describes the link between professional learning and evaluation of teachers. District and national front-runners across the nation are working intensely in order to give a response to a regulation that is calling for an evaluation system that is revised for teachers who integrate several methods of teacher practice and student learning. The constant development of learning and teaching are the main goals of this work, whether through more formative support or through strengthened accountability. In order to achieve this, systems of assessment for teachers have to be implemented and designed with learning and teacher development as the main factors, as opposed to being appended later as afterthoughts. Other than being acknowledged as an essential fragment of the process of evaluation itself, professional development is usually linked to the overall outcomes of the evaluation. This article strives to give the efforts and perceptions of district and state leaders who are coming up with and putting into place evaluation systems that both measure and generate the teaching effectiveness support. The article starts by recounting the federal policy modifications that make up this work. It describes the study on how instructors learn best, more so how they learn from assessment to come up with better instructor effectiveness. It guides on how teacher commitment in learning and collaboration can be assessed in order to incentivize teacher contribution in job-embedded professional learning and also justify and identify the commitment of teachers towards constant improvement. The article then gives a report of the necessary conditions for this crucial work. The article is relevant to professional development standards 6.2 as it focuses on professional learning and the improvement of the learning and teaching practice. Books Australia, & Queensland. (1991). The Provision of teacher professional development in a devolving education system. Canberra: Australia, Australia Government Pub. Service. This book mainly focuses on the improvement of the teaching and learning process through thorough efforts to restructure learning institutions and relink them to their communities. The book defines efficient professional development and how tutors in Australia practice competent professional development. It also outlines how organizations in the country endorse efficient professional development. It gives a model which describes professional development by three components, these are: exposure to appropriate content, frequency of participation and quality of training. It was discovered that professional development was directly related to school-level orientation towards innovation and classroom instruction more so in schools that did not perform very well. The authors also noted that the teacher’s professional development was of better quality when they combined sources than when they primarily drew on one source. It was then concluded that if professional development was done well, it could improve learning and overall student education. However, better operational professional development would need considerable backing from both the institution and the system level. This book is relevant to both professional development standards 6.1 and 6.2 in that it identifies combined sources as a basic need for professional development and also suggests support from the system level and the school itself as a technique to employ professional practice and improve practice. Cordingley, P. (2013). The role of professional learning in determining the teaching profession's future. East Melbourne: Centre for Strategic Education. This book explores what instructors and the ownership of professional development and learning have to offer to the teaching profession and the different student communities that are served by it. It also touches on the willingness and capacities of these parties to take control of professional learning. The first half of the book mostly talks about the benefits of, and operational challenges of putting professional learning into use. This discussion is done differently from the conventional importance that is normally put on professional excellence in this field as a result of those challenges. The author further explores the question of how the system may appear if professional learning was taken in control in the provision of student learning were perceived as the core priority for instructors and those who lead and support them. This book is relevant to standards 6.1 and 6.2 as it outlines giving knowledge away from the norm as a way of engaging in professional learning and improve practice. It has also identified the use of opportunities like common planning time and tools for self-reflection as needs for professional learning. The book is also quite relevant to professional standards 6.4 because it talks about the use of a different method that is more relevant to the needs of the learner and better teacher outcomes. Read More