Do Teachers Accurately Report Their Learning? A Comparison of Teacher Reports to Validated Measures

• In Event: Measuring and Investigating the Impact of Professional Development Programs on Teacher Learning

Abstract

Many professional development programs determine their success based on the program’s impact on participating teachers’ knowledge. Teachers’ self-reports have been widely used, especially in large-scale studies, to gauge the improvement in teachers’ knowledge. However, little attention has been given to the validity of self-reports in assessing teachers’ learning. The purpose of this study is to test the validity of teachers’ self-reported knowledge gains from professional development programs by comparing them with a validated measure of teachers’ knowledge. Results of an analysis of data collected from 568 teachers in 24 different programs indicated a lack of correlation between teachers’ self-reports and direct assessments of their knowledge. Furthermore, different teacher-related factors were associated with the learning reported by these two measures.

Authors

• Yasemin Copur-Gencturk, University of Southern California

• Ian Thacker, University of Texas, San Antonio

• Debra L. Plowman, The University of Texas - Austin