How Does an Observation Protocol Inform an English Language Arts Professional Development on Core Practices?

• In Event: From Measurement to Improvement: Leveraging Observation Protocols to Improve Teaching in Middle School English Language Arts

Abstract

Framework and Objectives

The policy conversation has begun to highlight the importance of changing teacher practice, yet there is still much to learn about designing professional development that impacts both teacher and student learning (Wilson, 2013). The professional development (PD) intervention at the core of this study builds on a set of design principles. Sustained change in teaching practice is supported by focusing on high-leverage, or “core,” teaching practices that are fundamental to teaching (Author, 2008). To develop understandings of particular practices, PD should focus on providing teachers with clear representations of practices and opportunities to enact them (Author, 2009). Observation tools provide a set of core practices and the decomposition of teaching practice into discrete elements. However, little is known about how observation protocols can be leveraged to support changes in teacher practice.

This study examines the design, pedagogy, and content of a PD centered on PLATO, an ELA observation protocol, and explores aspects that may have facilitated teachers’ changes in practice. Specifically, we asked,
1) What kinds of modifications are required to make a structured observation tool useful for the improvement of instruction?
2) What aspects of the PD supported teachers’ changes in practice?

Data Sources and Methods

The PD consisted of 14 days spread over two academic years and the intervening summer. Teachers also received individual feedback and support through six school-site meetings. Data sources included video from PDs, fieldnotes and transcripts of debriefing meetings with the professional developers, as well as transcripts of audio recordings from school-site meetings and interviews with teachers. Through open and focused coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), categories were established to examine PD content, with particular attention to professional developers’ and teachers’ references to core practices. These were analyzed across time and in relation to school-site meetings and teacher interview data to understand their roles in the PD.

Findings

Our analysis indicates that the observation protocol functioned as a foundation for the development of PD, providing common language and representations of high-quality teaching for teachers. However, professional developers needed to further unpack the practices and create multiple opportunities for teachers to try out new practices. We also learned that the practice of strategy instruction required much more intensive intervention than the practice of classroom discussion. Findings from other papers in this symposium link specific components of the PD to changes in teachers’ language and views of ELA teaching.

Significance

These findings suggest that observation protocols can be vital tools for organizing PD focused on changing teacher practice. Such protocols specify core practices of teaching and provide language to describe them. Instrument developers have also developed a library of classroom video to represent those practices enacted a different stages of quality. However, these resources, while necessary, are not sufficient. Given the interest in classroom observations at district and state level, learning more about how to leverage such protocols for professional development will be a critical next step in improving practice.

Authors

• Lorien Chambers Schuldt, Fort Lewis College

• Michael Metz, Stanford University

• Taralynn Kantor, Stanford University