Investigating a Literacy-Focused Professional Development Effort: What Happens When Key Elements Are Missing

• In Event: Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Examinations of Disciplinary Literacy and Writing Practices

Abstract

Educational leaders continually look for ways to improve teachers’ instruction to increase student achievement, especially as states implement the Common Core Standards. Typically, leaders plan professional development (PD) activities as a way to increase teacher knowledge or bring about changes in teachers’ instructional practices. When planning such activities, leaders should consider what elements of PD will be most effective. Using data gathered over a five-year period, this study examines the impact of a literacy-based PD grant on teachers’ knowledge and instructional practice for teaching expository reading and writing. Findings suggest PD must move beyond just teaching teachers new instructional strategies to also develop teachers’ conceptual knowledge of those strategies. Without doing so, teachers will not reach their full potential.

Authors

• Juliet Michelsen Wahleithner, California State University - Fresno

• Kelsey Krausen, University of California - Davis

• Michal Kurlaender, University of California - Davis