Challenges in Conducting Longitudinal Research on Teacher Preparation

• In Event: Building a Knowledge Base for Elementary Teacher Education

Abstract

Objective. Qualitative case studies have identified promising teacher education practices while recent large-scale studies have compared program effects on K-12 student achievement (Boyd et al., 2009; Constantine et al., 2009; Ronfeldt, 2012). Neither, however, provides detailed insight into the learning-to-teach opportunities needed to support the development of high-quality novices. No large-scale studies track prospective teachers from multiple preparation programs into their first years of teaching across myriad states and districts. This paper examines the challenges of conducting such research. It draws on actor-network theory and our experiences implementing a study that follows 125 teacher candidates from student teaching into full-time teaching.
Theoretical Framework. Actor-network theory (ANT) illuminates the assemblages of people, practices, and tools necessary to produce scientific knowledge (Latour, 2005). According to ANT, conducting large-scale, longitudinal teacher preparation research poses several challenges; researchers must recruit participants from programs, districts, and schools located across geographical distances and ensure they engage in research activities. ANT studies identify 3 key processes: problematization in which researchers convince participants that the research will meet shared goals, enrollment through which researchers maintain individuals’ participation, and mobilization through which researchers identify individuals to support the research.
Data Sources and Methods. Our large-scale study collected survey and interview data from stakeholders in 5 preparation programs, i.e., teacher candidates, methods instructors, cooperating teachers, and university supervisors. It then followed candidates as teachers of record, collecting classroom video, survey, and interview data. In 2016-2017, study participants began teaching in 42 districts in 6 states. We draw on research team meeting minutes, communications between researchers and potential/enrolled participants, and stakeholder participation rates. We analyzed data by first identifying the people, practices, and tools needed to recruit and maintain research participants. We then used thematic coding to identify processes of problematization, enrollment, and mobilization; challenges that arose regarding each; and strategies for resolving them.
Findings. Problematization and mobilization posed particular challenges. Researchers were most successful recruiting teacher education stakeholders, especially teacher candidates and novices whom they offered financial incentives. Beginning teacher participation, however, was impeded by district officials, who felt the study would dilute novices’ focus on district initiatives. Researchers struggled to identify spokespeople for the study as beginning teachers and teacher educators had to navigate district control over jobs and field placements, respectively. In addition, because novices taught in myriad districts with different permission processes and initiatives, researchers could not standardize communication. Further, researchers found it difficult to engage novices who taught in districts geographically distant from the 3 states where the programs were located.
Significance. Identifying learning-to-teach opportunities that support high-quality teaching is critical to building a robust knowledge base for teacher education. Conducting research that can contribute to these efforts, however, presents significant challenges. This paper illuminates potential pitfalls and strategies for mitigating these challenges as it highlights the complex networks of people, tools, and practices that researchers must construct over time and distance. The paper thus helps build the knowledge base needed to more systematically design high-quality research on teacher education and its effects.

Authors

• Dorothea M. Anagnostopoulos, The University of Connecticut

• Julie Jackson Cohen, University of Virginia