Summer as an Accelerator for Teacher Professional Growth

• In Event: 47.082 - Digging Deeper: Using Mixed-Methods Research to Assess Promising Practices in Out-of-School Time

Abstract

Summer has long been considered a time of educational opportunity for children of all backgrounds. But for children from under-resourced communities, summer educational programs are an important bridge that accelerates student learning and mitigates the achievement gap. BELL, a national non-profit, has a strong history of providing evidence-based summer educational programming designed to help at-risk children improve both academic and social-emotional skills.

In order to deliver impactful evidence-based summer programming, BELL depends on capable and passionate educators. As part of the summer learning experience, BELL provides comprehensive pre-program and ongoing professional development that not only prepares educators to implement strong summer programming, but also improves knowledge and instructional strategies and practice.

In the education sector, there is little evidence that staff professional development has a positive impact on educator practices, but most research has focused on training that happens within schools during the traditional academic year. BELL’s approach presents an alternative: training happens in the space “in-between” academic years, it gives participants an immediate and authentic opportunity to practice what has been emphasized, it provides ongoing monitoring and feedback on performance, and it is supplemented by ample references and resources. Moreover, the proximity of the BELL experience to the launch of the subsequent academic year raises the question: is the BELL program an impact accelerator for educators? Do BELL educators gain skills during BELL Summer that positively affect their daily, school-year practice and, in turn, thousands of additional students?

In recent months, BELL has completed two mixed-methods studies to substantiate these theories. In the first study, BELL partnered with a third-party researcher (Bellwether Education Partners) to conduct in-depth interviews with 20 educators from one school district who was implementing the BELL summer program for the first time. In the second study, BELL conducted an online survey three months after the summer program with hundreds of educators who worked in BELL summer programs across the country. Both studies had the same objective: to determine if BELL educators are leveraging knowledge and practices, learned during the BELL summer program, during the school day and year, and if so, how, and to what extent.

Results from both studies were highly promising and show a large majority of BELL educators are adopting or enhancing core BELL practices, and putting them into play during the school year. Results were strongest in the area of growth mindset, where respondents reported they are better able to give meaningful feedback to students and encourage students to persist through challenges. In addition, educators reported that the BELL experience provides additional, meaningful benefits, such as job satisfaction, increased motivation, space to experiment in the classroom setting, and support for advancement.
Overall, the studies make the case that out-of-school time programs, particularly summer programs, are not only an important opportunity to enhance student learning, but also an opportunity to accelerate the learning of the educators working with those students. This initial work sets the stage for rigorous, mixed-methods analyses that examine educator practices before, during and after summer programming.

Authors

• Bryan Hall, BellXcel

• Danielle Fontaine, BELL

• Brenda McLaughlin, BellXcel

• Allison Crean Davis, Bellwether Education Partners

• Marnie Kaplan, Bellwether Education Partners