Investigating and Improving Designs for Supporting Professional Development Facilitators' Learning

• In Event: 63.018 - Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

My dissertation reports on a retrospective analysis of a design study conducted in partnership between researchers and the leaders of a large U.S. urban district that was aimed at supporting the learning of three mathematics instructional coaches who were charged with supporting the learning of middle grades mathematics teachers across the district. Specifically, my dissertation seeks to examine both what professional development (PD) facilitators need to know and be able to do in order to design and implement high-quality professional development (HQPD), and a design of PD for supporting the development of this expertise. By HQPD, I mean professional development designed with the goal of supporting teachers to significantly reorganize their practice and develop inquiry-oriented teaching practices that support all students’ engagement in rigorous mathematics activity. This design study is a case of supporting the development of district capacity to provide HQPD for teachers by supporting the development of content specific coaches’ PD facilitation practices.
Teaching that aims at the goals for students’ learning outlined in policy documents such as the Common Core State Standards in mathematics and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Principles and Standards for School Mathematics has been called ambitious because these learning goals are more demanding and require a lot more of teachers than the typical exclusive focus in the past on procedural fluency. Instruction of this type calls for a qualitatively different and deeper understanding of mathematics and student reasoning than teachers typically demonstrate. Given the significant learning involved, teachers, in turn, need substantial support and HQPD.
Implementing content specific coaching programs as a way of supporting teacher development has become increasingly common in the U.S. The focal district had hired three district-level mathematics coaches and put them in charge of planning and facilitating district-level PD for middle-grades mathematics teachers across the district. For schools and districts that invest in content-focused coaching (like the focal district), supporting coaches’ development of productive practices for supporting teachers’ learning is a key aspect of capacity for instructional improvement. Unfortunately, in spite of what is known about HQPD and the critical role that PD facilitators play in supporting instructional improvement at scale, there is little prior research on the expertise needed to design and lead HQPD.

Author

• Jonee Wilson, Vanderbilt University