The Study
Researchers and policy analysts have written widely about the form professional development for teachers should take. In this paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 1999, Mary Kennedy, professor in the Department of Teacher Education, reviews studies of inservice programs that aim to enhance mathematics and science. She focuses her review on studies that examine the effects of programs on student learning.

The Findings
Kennedy begins by pointing out that reformers have often failed to discuss the content of inservice teacher education. By content, she refers to the topics, such as classroom management or discipline techniques, that are addressed within a program. In her review, she found 93 studies that examined the effectiveness of various approaches to continuing professional education for teachers in either science or mathematics. However, only 12 provided evidence of benefits to the teachers' students. In examining the 12 studies, Kennedy found that "programs whose content focused mainly on teachers' behaviors demonstrated smaller influences on student learning than did programs whose content focused on teachers' knowledge of the subject, on the curriculum, or how students learn the subject." Kennedy also noticed that the knowledge provided in the more successful programs tended "not to be purely about subject - that is, they were not courses in mathematics - but instead were about how students learn subject matter." Kennedy also notes that the literature advocates collaboration among teachers, schoolwide participation in professional development, programs that extend over time and are interspersed with classroom practice, programs that include classroom visitations, and so on. However, Kennedy's review shows that the differences among programs that mattered most were differences in the content that was actually provided to teachers, not differences in program forms and structures. "Based on the studies I was able to reviewŠit looks as if a strong case can be made for attending more to the content of inservice teacher education and for attending less to its structural and organizational features. In the studies reviewed here, programs whose content focused mainly on teachers' behaviors demonstrated smaller influences on student learning than did programs whose content focused on teachers' knowledge of the subject, on the curriculum, or on how students learn the subject."

What It Means To You
To Kennedy, the research suggests content is more important in developing professional development programs than form or structure. What feature does professional development in your school district emphasize?

For More Information
Kennedy, M. (1998, April). Form and substance in inservice teacher education. Research Report from the National Institute for Science Education, University of Wisconsin.