Teacher Perceptions as an Entry Point for Talent Spotting and Development

• In Event: Federally Funded Projects in Gifted and Talented Education: Findings, Challenges, and Lessons Learned

Abstract

Researchers investigated an intervention focused on teaching teachers to increase rigor, challenge and engagement in order to reveal talent in low-income learners. Drawing on previous Javits projects strategies (e.g., Bracken et al. 2007; Coleman, Shah-Coltrane, & Harrison, 2010; Gavin et al., 2009; Kim, et al., 2011), this intervention utilizes curriculum/instruction developed for high ability learners, whole school, with Kindergarten through Grade 5 students. The intervention’s goal, to improve teachers’ ability to see student ability and talent through use of proven high-level curricular and instructional strategies, was accomplished through teacher learning centered on culturally responsive teaching, fundamental principles of learning, William and Mary ELA and science units, Mentoring Mathematical Minds and Mentoring Young Mathematicians. Researchers hypothesized teacher perceptions of students’ abilities would shift from a deficit view to a strengths-based one.
Method. The study utilizes a three-year, three-cohort, multiple baseline research design to address the direct and mediated effects of teacher participation across Title 1 schools. We report teacher participation findings Y1-Y2 from three years of intervention with three cohorts of four schools. We ask: (1) Does schoolwide implementation of talent development teacher training improve teacher beliefs and perception of talent potential as well as improve effective instructional practice? (2) How do we capture teacher engagement with sustained voluntary professional development support? (3) Do dosage and engagement predict changes in teacher beliefs, perceptions, and practices? Schools were selected based on buy-in, Title I status, inclusion of grades K-5, and compatibility of other school-based innovations. Seventy-two teachers consented to participate and had data points for at least two years.
Data Sources. In the spring prior to each school’s summer professional development implementation, teachers were invited to participate in the study. Teacher questionnaires were distributed, and research assistants blind to the study’s goals observed classrooms. Measures included a self-efficacy scale, Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) and Teacher’s Observation of Potential in Students (TOPS; Coleman, Shah-Coltrane, & Harrison, 2010). Teachers used the TOPS form to rate their students without sharing the students’ identities. Scores were aggregated by classroom to assess teachers’ inclination towards observing talent in students. Observers conducted classroom observations using the William and Mary Classroom Observation Scales Revised (COS-R; VanTassel-Baska, Quek, & Feng, 2007) and Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008). The same data were collected at the end of the intervention’s first year, and in subsequent years.
Results. Data show gains in changing teacher beliefs and behaviors. Teachers’ sustained, individualized, voluntary engagement in professional development is positively correlated to a shift in teachers’ beliefs and practices, particularly in the areas of efficacy with classroom management, organization, and talent-spotting abilities. These gains hold steady in the subsequent year but do not continue to grow beyond the first year, perhaps because of reduced sustained coaching and support.
Significance. This study provides a potential model for spotting and developing student talent. The focus on teacher learning and beliefs offers a promising path to impact underrepresentation of GT students from low-income households.

Author

• Julie D. Swanson, College of Charleston