The
Form and Substance of Inservice Teacher Education
December 2000
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.
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