Scaling Up Professional Learning: Technical Expectations and Adaptive Challenges

• In Event: 29.049 - Disciplinary Literacy Instruction

Abstract

As studies have begun to explore the extended effects of professional development, few provide qualitative insights into how teachers understand the tensions in trying to both improve their instruction and support their colleagues in improving instruction as well. This study examines the experiences of teachers and teacher leaders from a mid-sized urban high school who are participating in a four-year professional development initiative focused on instructional improvement in the domain of disciplinary literacy. This study highlights the complexity in how teachers first understood the challenges of instructional improvement and then how they began to work to share those improvements with their broader school community and colleagues.

Authors

• Christina L. Dobbs, Boston University

• Jacy C. Ippolito, Salem State University

• Megin Charner-Laird, Salem State University