School Improvement for Early Childhood Teachers: The Florida Master Teacher Initiative

• In Event: Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: Using Fidelity Data to Improve Initiatives for Early Childhood Teachers

Abstract

Objectives
The Florida Master Teacher Initiative (FMTI) provides multi-faceted professional development for teachers working in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade schools in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. This presentation has two objectives:
• To provide an overview of FMTI.
• To describe ongoing measures of fidelity and formative assessment collected to ensure adherence to program aims and enable programmatic enhancement during implementation.
Perspectives
There are three major components to FMTI: (1) adding a specialization and revising coursework within an existing job-embedded, blended-delivery graduate program (NCATE, 2010) to emphasize early childhood education; (2) providing teachers in the graduate program opportunities to lead yearlong, inquiry-based professional learning opportunities (Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2009) for their colleagues; and (3) engaging partner school principals in community of practice sessions around distributed leadership (Spillane, Halverson, & Diamond, 2004). Each is designed to embody the characteristics of effective professional learning, that is: collaborative (Cordingley, et al., 2005), coherent (Desimone et al., 2002), based on content matter (Garet et al., 2001), focused on instructional practice (Borko, 2004), and sustained over time (Yoon et al., 2007).
Methods
There were three separate efforts to collect evaluative data of FMTI. The primary effort was an external evaluation by SRI International. The evaluation by SRI examined ongoing program fidelity. Other efforts were conduced by the program design team. These efforts included course-embedded formative assessments in the form of brief questionnaires to students about perceived course effectiveness and a formal interview of all graduate students in the first cohort and all participating principals at the mid-point of program implementation.
Data Sources
Data sources used by the project team to analyze program effectiveness included an annual report from SRI International of fidelity measures, course-embedded questionnaires, and interview transcripts.
Results
The analysis of collected data has driven ongoing updates and enhancements to FMTI. Courses have been updated for the second cohort using formative evaluations by students, both questionnaires and interviews. Course updates include adjustments to course material, adjustments to technology used in course delivery, changes in scheduling to accommodate the school district calendar, and a greater focus on elements that students found most impactful.
The design team has also added to the initiative by including new enhancements deemed necessary by project participants. These enhancements include a new professional learning program for assistant principals. This enhancement has enabled assistant principals to form their own networks within the district. A professional learning community with a focus on transition to kindergarten has also been added for prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers. This enhancement builds collaboration between the two grade levels and encourages alignment in classroom practice. The final enhancement is a post-baccalaureate certificate for teachers who do not wish to complete the full graduate program. The certificate includes four courses from the early childhood graduate program that can be completed in one year rather than three.
Significance
The presentation will provide an overview of an ongoing project in a large, urban district. It will add to literature on using formative assessment for project enhancement.

Authors

• Stephanie C. Sanders-Smith, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Philip E. Poekert, University of Florida