Meeting the Teacher Quality Imperative: New Evidence on

Teacher Induction and Professional Development

—————————October 30, 2008

Charles Sumner SchoolWashington, DC

SEE Forums:

Steve Fleischman, SEE Forums Director & VP, American Institutes for Research (www.air.org)

Supported through a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (ies.ed.gov) of the U.S. Department of Education

Question 1:

Raise a green card if you think that improving teacher quality is the Number 1 challenge facing education today.

Raise a blue card if you think that improving teacher quality is among the Top 3 challenges facing education today.

Question 2: Which of the following do you believe is the issue in teacher quality that needs the most attention and improvement in the coming years?

Raise your: Green card for Teacher Recruitment Blue card for Teacher Induction and Support Yellow card for Teacher Professional Development Purple card for Teacher Retention

Panelists:

Steve Glazerman, Senior Researcher, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Michael S. Garet, Chief Research Scientist, American Institutes for Research (AIR)

Kate Walsh, President, National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ)

IES Evaluation of the Impact of Two Professional Development Interventions: Background

Most teachers in the U.S. participate in some form of in-service PD each year.

But little is known about the impact of the PD on teachers’ knowledge or instructional practice or on the achievement of their students.

Thus, IES funded a randomized study of two PD interventions focusing on 2nd grade reading in high-poverty schools: A. An 8-day content-focused institute seriesB. The 8-day institute series plus in-school coaching

IES Evaluation of the Impact of Two Professional Development Interventions: Key Findings

The PD was delivered and teachers participated as intended. There were significant impacts on teacher knowledge and on

1 of the 3 teaching practices promoted by the PD at the end of the 1-year treatment, but not on student test scores.

The added effect of coaching on teacher practices was not significant.

There were no significant impacts on measured teacher or student outcomes in the follow-up year.

IES Evaluation of the Impact of Two Professional Development Interventions: Exploratory Analyses

What might explain why the impacts on teacher knowledge and practice did not translate into impacts on student achievement?

Why were the impacts on teacher outcomes found during the implementation year no longer significant at follow-up?

What might explain why the PD affected teachers’ word- but not meaning-level knowledge?

Why didn’t the coaching plus institutes produce greater impacts relative to the institutes alone?

National Impact Evaluation of Comprehensive Teacher Induction*

What is “comprehensive teacher induction”? What are we comparing it to? How was the study designed? RCT with:

1,009 teachers 418 schools 17 districts 13 states

*Authors: Steven Glazerman, Sarah Dolfin, Martha Bleeker, Amy Johnson, Eric Isenberg, Julieta Lugo-Gil, Mary Grider, Edward Britton

Findings: Positive impacts on teacher induction supportControl group received support…

75% had an assigned mentor (13% full time) 74 minutes/week with mentor (38% during school hours) 81% say mentor meeting time is adequate 28% kept log, 42% observed others teaching

…but treatment group received more 93% had an assigned mentor (74% full time) 95 minutes/week with mentor (77% during school hours) Positive impacts on types and intensity of assistance received, all

22 areas of guidance, many areas of PD

Findings:No positive impacts on outcomes after one year

No impact on classroom practices No positive impacts on student achievement

Some evidence of negative impacts at selected grades

No impact on teacher retention No positive impacts on composition of teaching

workforce

Future reports

Year 2 Provide second year of services to 7 districts Continue to observe all districts Follow-up and report on each type of district

Year 3 Follow-up and report on each type of district

Questions and Discussion

What implications does the research presented today have on policy, practice, and future research? 

Contact Us:SEE FORUMS

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