Giving Back: What Happens When Teachers in a Graduate Program Share Their Learning With Colleagues

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: Innovative Approaches and Strategies to Program Evaluation in Schools

Abstract

Research suggests teacher professional development is effective when it is hands-on, ongoing, and tailored to classrooms. In this time of tight budgets and intense focus on teacher effectiveness, how can districts provide this type of training? This study examines an innovative approach to professional development in which teachers in a grant-funded graduate program “give back” to their schools by providing professional development activities to pass on their learning to colleagues on-site. Through surveys and interviews, researchers found that teacher leaders in the graduate literacy program conveyed their learning to colleagues through a variety of activities, which colleagues found useful. Furthermore, colleagues reporting nine or more hours of professional development found the activities more useful than those participating in fewer hours.

Authors

• Caitlin Scott, Education Northwest

• Lisa Marie Dillman, Education Northwest

• Elizabeth Gandhi, Education Northwest

• Basha R. Krasnoff, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory