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What about teacher learning? The effect of student assessment-focused approaches on teacher professional development

Thu, April 18, 10:00 to 11:30am, Hyatt Regency, Floor: Atrium (Level 2), Boardroom B

Proposal

Teachers are among the most important determinants of both students’ immediate learning and students’ long-term outcomes (Popova et al, 2018), so they are at the center of learning improvement programs for students. The success of the early grades literacy programs implemented in Southern contexts is largely gauged by students’ scores on the early grade reading assessment (EGRA) or related versions of it, and teacher professional development interventions are designed with this end in mind.

We have found that when teachers are trained in simple instructional routines that are aligned with a language-specific scope and sequence, have books for their students and supporting teachers’ guides, and have job-embedded support from a coach, reading assessment scores for children are significantly higher than children whose teachers do not benefit from the program. The thrust for interventions like this one are to develop programs that are replicable, scalable and cost-effective. However, meaningful teacher learning is a slow and uncertain process, and some elements of a teachers’ knowledge and practice are more easily changed than others (Borko, 2004). This led us to investigate how programs targeted to improving student reading assessment scores develop teachers’ competencies beyond their ability to implement a specific structured early grades literacy program.

In a case study approach in India that includes perspectives from both teachers who experience the early grade reading program and program implementers, we sought to answer the following questions: 1) In what ways does our early grade reading program support meaningful teacher development? 2) What are the areas of teacher knowledge and practice that need further development? In addition to interviews with teachers and program implementers, we will share examples from the classroom of the ways in which teachers’ fidelity to the program intersects with their own developing understandings.

This presentation provides suggestions for the enhancement of approaches to developing teachers’ competencies to support children on a path to literacy and lifelong learning. This is particularly relevant at a time when the international education sector has made notable strides in helping teachers improve children’s basic reading skills, while more complex skills such as formative assessment, differentiating instruction, and supporting the meaningful engagement with text have proven to be more elusive. The study also offers insights on the inherent tension between simple, replicable, scalable professional development programs and the depth of teacher knowledge and skill that can outlive any project cycle or shifting government policies.

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