Can Follow-Up Supports After Professional Development Make a Difference? Research on Elementary Science Instruction

• In Event: Elementary Mathematics and Science Teacher Learning

Abstract

Given the time and resources invested in professional development, it is important to find ways to extend positive outcomes over the long term. This study, part of a larger NSF-funded project, investigated whether an intervention of modest follow-up supports influenced the sustainability of outcomes for elementary teachers who had previously participated in PD programs designed to improve science education. Primary data sources included surveys and interviews administered pre-intervention and mid-intervention; secondary data sources included lesson plans, classroom observations, and teacher self-reflections. Results indicate that follow-up supports reversed declines (in the years after PD ended) in teachers’ sense of preparedness to teach science, instructional time, use of selected instructional strategies, and implementation of inquiry-based student activities in science.

Authors

• Judith H. Sandholtz, University of California - Irvine

• Cathy Ringstaff, WestEd

• Jessica Triant, WestEd