Effective Teacher Professional Development

• In Event: A Multifaceted Perspective on Current Approaches for High-Quality Teacher Professional Development

Abstract

Purpose. This paper reviews studies of effective teacher professional development (PD) models that have demonstrated a positive link between teacher PD, teaching practices, and student outcomes.

Theoretical Framework. The review focuses on, and expands the consensus articulated by Desimone (2009) and others (Darling-Hammond, et. al., 2009; Hill, et. al., 2013) about key principles in the design of learning experiences that can impact teachers’ knowledge and practice. At the time of this study, no such review had not been conducted since 2009.

Methods and Data. The review consists of 35 studies that emerged from an extensive search of the literature over the last three decades which met the study’s methodological criteria: they featured a careful experimental or comparison group design, or they analyzed student outcomes with statistical controls for context variables and student characteristics (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017).

Results. Through that review, researchers identified seven widely shared features of effective PD. Specifically, such effective PD:
Is Content focused: PD that focuses on teaching strategies associated with specific curriculum content supports teachers’ learning within their classroom contexts.
Incorporates active learning: Active learning engages teachers directly in designing and trying out teaching strategies, providing them an opportunity to engage in the same style of learning they are designing for their students. Such PD uses authentic artifacts, interactive activities, and other strategies to provide deeply embedded, highly contextualized professional learning.
Supports collaboration: High-quality PD creates space for teachers to share ideas and collaborate in their learning, often in job-embedded contexts. By working collaboratively, teachers can create communities that positively change the culture and instruction of their entire grade level, department, school, and/or district.
Models of effective practice: Curricular models and modeling of instruction provide teachers with a clear vision of what best practices look like. Teachers may view models that include lesson plans, unit plans, sample student work, observations of peer teachers, and video or written cases of teaching.
Provides coaching and expert support: Coaching and expert support involve the one-on-one sharing of expertise about content and evidence-based practices, focused directly on teachers’ individual needs.
Offers feedback and reflection: High-quality professional learning frequently provides built-in time for teachers to intentionally think about, receive input on, and make changes to their practice by facilitating reflection and soliciting feedback.
Is of sustained duration: Effective PD provides teachers with adequate time to learn, practice, implement, and reflect upon new strategies that facilitate changes in their practice.

Scholarly Significance. The paper ends by identifying conditions for teaching and learning both within schools and at the broader, system level that can inhibit the effectiveness of PD. The findings in this paper provide practitioners, researchers, and policymakers with a research-based understanding of the kinds of PD that can lead to powerful professional learning, instructional improvement, and deeper student learning. By examining information about the nature of effective PD, policymakers and practitioners can begin to evaluate the needs of the systems in which teachers learn and do their work and consider how teachers’ learning opportunities can be more effectively supported.

Authors

• Maria E. Hyler, Learning Policy Institute

• Madelyn Gardner, Learning Policy Institute

• Linda Darling-Hammond, Learning Policy Institute