Becoming a Better Teacher: A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Individual and Contextual Contributions

• In Event: Documenting Teacher Change and Shifts in Practice Over Time

Abstract

While it is well-established that teachers are the single most important school-based predictor of student success, we still know little about how teachers grow over time. This mixed methods study examines why and how some teachers improve over time. We find that principal and collegial support (context) and teachers’ growth orientation (individual dispositions) predict instructional improvement directly as well as indirectly through growth behaviors like attention to formal feedback. Findings related to school context extend prior research, suggesting that improvements to instructional practice are the omitted mediator linking principal leadership and collegial collaboration to improvements in student achievement. Findings related to teacher growth orientation are among the first to directly link teacher dispositions to teaching effectiveness.

Authors

• Carolina Buitrago, Tripod Education Partners

• Sarah Phillips, Tripod Education Partners

• Jacob F.S. Rowley

• Lars Dietrich, Humboldt University, Berlin

• Ronald F. Ferguson, Harvard University