The Impact of National Writing Project Partnership on Teacher Practice and Student Writing

• In Event: The National Writing Project: Networked Development and Use of Knowledge to Support Teachers’ Professional Learning

Abstract

As a nation, we face a critical need to improve student learning. Policymakers are looking to teacher professional development as a key strategy for improving teachers’ skills to meet these needs. Yet the research on effective professional development is mixed. While qualitative and correlational studies have identified features of “effective” professional development (Borko, 2004; Garet et al., 1999; Wei et. al., 2009; Yoon, 2007), recent large-scale experiments of teacher induction programs (Glazerman, 2010) and teacher professional development in mathematics (Garet et al., 2011) have not found positive impacts.

This paper presents the final analysis from the National Evaluation of Writing Project Professional Development (WPPD), a 4-year cluster randomized controlled trial of teacher professional development provided by National Writing Project sites to 20 middle schools (N=39). Each year, the evaluation team has collected quantitative data from all schools: surveys from all teachers; instructional logs and teacher assignments from 7th and 8th grade language arts teachers; and student work in response to collected assignments, along with pre/post on-demand writing assessments from a sample of 7th and 8th grade students. Response rates are high, exceeding 90% for all instruments across all years of the study. Survey scales are reliable (Cronbach's α >.86 for outcome measures). In previous scorings of similar on-demand writing assessments using the same rubric and same scoring process, the Analytic Writing Continuum system has demonstrated high inter-rater reliability (overall 90% agreement across attributes), test-retest reliability, and internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .97).

Results from the third year of the study (second of three years of implementation) showed a significant impact of National Writing Project professional development on instructional practices, such as having students write to reflect (p<.05), that were a focus of the professional development (Author, 2011). Until this time, student outcomes data have not been analyzed to see whether the professional development is impacting student writing. In summer 2011, we will analyze the final year of teacher survey, log, and assignment data as well as student on-demand writing prompt data from all years to see whether and to what extent the professional development’s impact on teacher practice resulted in improvements in student writing. Rich data on implementation from 4 years of case studies will be used to develop hypotheses about factors mediating the effects of professional development on teacher and student outcomes. These can in turn be tested using survey data from treatment and control schools. The combination of longitudinal quantitative and qualitative data on implementation and outcomes enables us to see how professional development customized to school needs and aligned with teachers’ instructional context is impacting teacher practice (and potentially student outcomes), possibly shedding light on similarities and differences in findings between this and other methodologically similar studies of in-service teacher supports.

Authors

• H. Alix Gallagher, SRI International

• Haiwen Wang, SRI International

• Katrina R. Woodworth, SRI International