Structuring Professional Learning to Develop a Culture of Data Use: Aligning Knowledge from the Field and Research Findings

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Gerzon
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Data Use ◽  
School Level ◽  
Research Review ◽  
District Leaders ◽  
Knowledge And Skills

Background This research review provides an analysis of current research related to school and district data use, with a particular focus on identifying key characteristics of schools and districts with effective “data using cultures.” The research review identifies and analyzes findings in five key areas of practice: communicating professional expectations for data use; providing resources and assistance to make meaning from data; participating in the flow of information for data use; providing professional development on data use knowledge and skills; and providing leadership to nurture a culture of data use. Purpose The goal of this literature review was to identify key elements that the research identifies as essential to developing a school or district culture of data use. Through the literature review and analysis, this article proposes a conceptual framework for school and district data use practices that can be used to guide professional learning in the area of data use. Research Design The research design is an analytic essay. The article includes an analysis of current literature on school and district data use, compares key concepts presented in current studies and literature reviews, and offers conclusions based on these findings. Conclusions This research review provides a conceptual framework of five elements that school and district leaders can use to guide professional learning in data use. The framework provides a “mental map” for addressing the range of knowledge and skills teachers must learn to use data as a routine part of their daily practice. In particular, the Culture of Data Use Framework is designed to help school and district leaders and professional development providers tease apart the specific areas of focus for training and support. The author outlines considerations for professional learning for each of the five framework elements and closes with a set of questions that may help to highlight future research needs in the area of school-level data use.

Light touch, heavy hand: principals and data-use PLCs

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 376-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Huguet ◽  
Caitlin C. Farrell ◽  
Julie A. Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Data Use ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
School Level ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Principal's Role

Purpose The use of data for instructional improvement is prevalent in today’s educational landscape, yet policies calling for data use may result in significant variation at the school level. The purpose of this paper is to focus on tools and routines as mechanisms of principal influence on data-use professional learning communities (PLCs). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a comparative case study of two low-income, low-performing schools in one district. The data set included interview and focus group transcripts, observation field notes and documents, and was iteratively coded. Findings The two principals in the study employed tools and routines differently to influence ways that teachers interacted with data in their PLCs. Teachers who were given leeway to co-construct data-use tools found them to be more beneficial to their work. Findings also suggest that teachers’ data use may benefit from more flexibility in their day-to-day PLC routines. Research limitations/implications Closer examination of how tools are designed and time is spent in data-use PLCs may help the authors further understand the influence of the principal’s role. Originality/value Previous research has demonstrated that data use can improve teacher instruction, yet the varied implementation of data-use PLCs in this district illustrates that not all students have an equal opportunity to learn from teachers who meaningfully engage with data.

scholarly journals Hastening slowly: insights about teacher development from an evaluation of courses at the WCED’s Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Meyer ◽  
Lydia Abel
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Level ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Leadership Institute ◽  
Service Training ◽  
Education Administrators ◽  
The Impact

In the area of teacher professional development, South African education administrators face the challenge of reconciling two imperatives that have entirely different implications for programme time frames and budgets. On the one hand, there is an urgent need to improve the pedagogic content knowledge of many teachers to improve the overall standard of teaching and learning in the public school system. Considering the scale and urgency of the matter, centralised course-based in-service training seems to be the only affordable alternative. On the other hand, researchers have long warned that once-off course-based training on its own has limited impact on teachers’ practice, and has to be accompanied by further professional support in the school and classroom, or be abandoned in favour of more enduring professional learning communities. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has grappled with this dilemma in the Department’s various professional development initiatives for teachers, a mainstay of which is the training offered by the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute (CTLI). This paper presents some of the data and findings from an external evaluation that ORT SA CAPE conducted in 2011–2012 of courses offered by the WCED at the CTLI. The hierarchy of INSET outcomes proposed by Harland and Kinder (1997) was applied to record changes in the practice of 18 teachers at eight schools. The progress of five of the teachers is discussed to illustrate the interplay between school-level factors and the experiences of individual teachers which influenced the impact of CTLI training on their teaching.

Foundations for Change

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Agency ◽  
Teacher Professional Learning ◽  
District Leaders ◽  
Teacher Capacity ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Natural Progression ◽  
Collaborative Interactions ◽  
Teacher Professional

Historically, educators, leaders, and policymakers have described teacher professional learning as professional development or trainings, which imply teachers receive information rather than acknowledging and accepting personal learning as an ongoing, natural progression toward improving the craft of teaching. Consensus exists regarding standards for professional learning, which includes the elements of embedded learning in contextually relevant locations, content focused practices, collaborative interactions, ongoing and sustained opportunities, and alignment to district and school goals. However, many school and district leaders have not yet made the paradigm shift to valuing the importance of teacher agency and cultivating an environment for building capacity. This chapter is devoted to sharing a research-based personalized professional learning model for change, which focuses on building greater teacher capacity and improved student learning.

Mentoring for all: building knowledge and community

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 242-255
Author(s):  
Suzanne Molitor ◽  
Lana Parker ◽  
Diane Vetter
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Teacher Induction ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Leadership Capacity ◽  
Mentor Teachers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Context Of Learning

Purpose After many years working with mentors for beginning teachers, both through a formal, Ministry-sponsored program, known in Ontario as the New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) and through a university-based Faculty of Education practicum, the authors cultivated an understanding of the value of both mentoring and the communities that foster it. The authors observed that pre-service mentors are not offered the same level of support as their induction mentor counterparts. The purpose of this paper is to explore the aforementioned gap by bringing together a small group of pre-service mentor teachers with several highly trained induction mentors from the NTIP program in two full days of professional development: one day of learning and community building among mentors, and the second day of collaboration by pre-service mentors alongside their teacher candidates (TCs). The authors learned that pre-service mentors need and desire professional learning and community mentoring support to develop foundational understandings about the role of mentors and the skills and strategies that support an effective mentoring practice. As a result, the authors advocate for sustainable professional development that leverages existing programs and the clarification of the pre-service mentoring role through continued study and collaboration over time. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study was designed to explore, understand, and interpret pre-service mentor teachers’ experience of professional learning about mentoring and the role of the mentor, including their responses to participating in a like community of learners. This study brought together educators serving as pre-service and induction mentors to engage them in formal professional learning about mentoring, within an environment that created the conditions for collaboration and community in the context of learning about mentoring. Findings This study surfaces the insights related to the types of knowledge and skills that mentors developed in this study in addition to pointing toward the knowledge and skills they perceive to be necessary to their effective participation in their roles as mentors. The study also identifies both the value that pre-service mentors perceived as a result of being invited into a learning space and the dynamics of professional learning and dialogue in collaboration with their induction mentor counterparts and their pre-service mentees. Research limitations/implications This research study explores a research gap in the area of mentoring as it relates to pre-service mentors or cooperating teachers. Its unique feature involves bringing together two previously segmented groups of mentors: pre-service mentors supporting developing TCs and induction mentors supporting novice teachers. It describes the value and impact of mentoring as understood by pre-service mentors, in particular identifying the reciprocal benefits they experienced. The authors also investigate and shed light on the value and impact of pre-service mentor participation in a community that is intentionally created to support their professional learning about their role. It provides recommendations for practice and indicates areas of potential research. Practical implications This study surfaces the potential benefits of professional learning and community for pre-service mentors who play an integral role in supporting TCs in the completion of their education degrees. It makes practical recommendations which point to uniting pre-service and in-service mentors as participants in learning communities that build leadership capacity and advance mentoring knowledge and skills to impact the mentoring relationship. This study advocates for a restructuring existing practice in the area of pre-service mentoring to encourage professional learning and interaction that connects the work of pre-service and in-service mentors, bridging two currently separate mentoring communities. Originality/value This study offers a re-visioning of mentoring as a community endeavor. It advances the notion that, supported by a targeted program of professional development and participation in communities of inquiry, knowledge creation and mobilization, mentors can build their mentoring and leadership capacity and extend their professional impact.

Professional Learning for Using Data: Examining Teacher Needs & Supports

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Beth Jimerson ◽  
Jeffrey C. Wayman
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Perceptions ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Data Use ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Data Systems ◽  
Support Providers ◽  
Computer Data ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Teacher Needs

Background In the last few decades, a focus on school accountability at the state and federal levels has created expectations for teachers to attend to data in increasingly structured ways. Although professional learning is often cited as an important facilitator of effective data use, research that focuses on the intersection of professional learning and data use is scarce. Examining teacher perceptions of data use supports, and contrasting assertions of what is desired in data-related professional learning with accounts of the ways in which this professional learning actually happens provide an avenue for exploring these issues and for building a research base that can inform the work of district and campus leaders as well as support providers. Focus of Study This study aimed at examining teacher needs specific to data-related professional learning through a lens informed by knowledge-based organizational learning. We were guided by two broad questions: (a) What knowledge and skills do teachers need in order to engage in data-informed practice? (b) How do professional learning supports address these needs? Research Design The qualitative study draws on document analysis as well as interview and focus group data collected from n=110 participants (teachers, school leaders, and district support staff) in three school districts in central Texas. Flexible a priori coding rooted in our conceptual framework was employed to examine data for themes common across district settings and across school levels (e.g., elementary, middle, high). Code counts were used to further examine areas of professional learning focus and/or apparent imbalance. Findings Educators articulated professional learning needs related to data use in six main areas: (a) asking appropriate questions of data (to guide analysis and use); (b) accessing and operating district data systems; (c) data literacy/interpretation; (d) fitting data use with day-do-day practice; (e) sharing information via collaboration; and (f) knowledge codifica-tion. Of these, data capture via computer data systems was by far the most prominent focus reported by educators in each district. Clear plans for addressing data use capacity through professional learning supports were lacking. Recommendations Taking into account teacher perspectives on what professional learning for data use was needed and on how such supports were, in reality, structured, we make three recommendations: (a) purposefully embed professional learning for data use in ongoing organizational routines; (b) mitigate the district level silos that separate training-on-computer-systems from professional learning focused on turning data into action at the classroom level; and (c) seek balance in supporting the constellation of knowledge and skills that contribute to data use capacity.

scholarly journals Connecting for Greater Purpose: An Examination of a District PLC

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Gojmerac ◽  
Lorenzo Cherubini
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Collaboration ◽  
School Level ◽  
Transformational Teaching ◽  
Professional Development Model ◽  
Service Paradigm ◽  
Improve Student Learning

This paper discusses an innovative professional development model based on a personal service approach of teacher collaboration in lieu of the more traditional expert-driven in-service paradigm. It presents a research-based Professional Learning Community (PLC) model in a large urban Ontario (Canada) school board that focused on transformational teaching strategies as a means of professional development to enhance teacher practice and improve student learning. The two key themes of the grounded theory qualitative analysis are also discussed. They include: (1) contextually-relevant PLCs, and (2) teacher leadership embedded in relationships. Last, the paper provides a framework for provincial, district, and school-level administrators to support the underlying values of teachers’ professional capacities as collaborative lead learners.

scholarly journals Intelligent accountability in schools: A study of how school leaders work with the implementation of assessment for learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Tolo ◽  
Sølvi Lillejord ◽  
María Teresa Flórez Petour ◽  
Therese N. Hopfenbeck
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Assessment For Learning ◽  
External Support ◽  
Teacher Resistance ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Achievement Data ◽  
Leader Support

Abstract In response to accountability systems dominated by external inspections and achievement data, calls are being made for intelligent accountability or a new accountability paradigm that focuses on meaningful learning, enabled by professionally skilled and committed educators within the system. In such systems, the actors are encouraged to strive for continuous development in learning organisations based on teamwork, distributed leadership, and professional learning communities. School leaders are positioned between district level administrators and teachers in such processes and have the responsibility to secure professional development. Using the implementation of the national program ‘Assessment for Learning’ in Norway as a case, the article shows that leaders approach professional development differently. Analyses of interviews with leaders from 7 schools reveal three distinct approaches related to how school leaders perceive knowledge. Some school leaders assume that teachers have the necessary knowledge and skills and trust them to manage the implementation process without leader support. Other school leaders distrust teachers’ knowledge and skills and assume that the proper knowledge exists outside the school. These leaders seek external support when they meet teacher resistance. In a third approach, school leaders assume that knowledge develops through collaboration and thereby engage with teachers in continuous judgment about the implementation procedure. In the discussion, questions of trust and distrust are analysed in relation to how professional knowledge is developed and how professional discretion can support the development of intelligent accountability in schools.

EntreCompEdu, a professional development framework for entrepreneurial education

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell Grigg
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Support Network ◽  
Advisory Group ◽  
Entrepreneurial Education ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Policy Problem ◽  
Development Framework ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a new professional development framework (EntreCompEdu) that identifies the competencies educators need to promote entrepreneurial education in primary, secondary and vocational settings.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper explores the relationships between the framework's various constructs to articulate its rationale and value. Its design was informed by literature review and critical feedback from an advisory group of European and national policymakers, university staff, teachers and education consultants. It is currently in a pilot stage.FindingsThe paper proposes a new model in the field resting on six pedagogical principles. These are translated into five areas of competence: entrepreneurial knowledge and understanding, planning and organization, teaching and training, assessment, and professional learning.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper only describes the conceptual thinking and contents of EntreCompEdu based on a limited literature review. Empirical research is necessary to assess the impact of EntreCompEdu on teaching. There are implications for building a network to support educators' professional development.Practical implicationsEntreCompEdu and its training materials offer educators structure and guidance to develop their competences. These are available in open access format, via https://www.entrecompedu.eu. Participants will have access to a bank of effective teaching practices and support network across Europe.Social implicationsCollaboration is essential to effective entrepreneurial education, with EntreCompEdu facilitating a support network across Europe.Originality/valueEntreCompEdu is an original response to a policy problem, namely the need for a professional development framework to support the implementation of EntreComp. It is timely given calls to pay further attention to teachers' professional development and widen the appeal of entrepreneurial education.

scholarly journals Professional Development of Mathematics Teacher: A Systematic Literature Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-54
Author(s):  
Roslinda Rosli ◽  
Mohd Fareed Aliwee
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Mathematics Teacher ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Effective Professional Development ◽  
Attitudes And Practices ◽  
Teacher Professional

Implementing effective professional development (PD) programs can help teachers in developing their knowledge and skills to enhance students learning in the classroom. However, professional development (PD) programs conducted been seen as less helpful for teachers in developing their potential in teaching mathematics. Therefore, a systematic literature review was undertaken to report on the programs of professional development (PD) for mathematics teachers. This review aimed to explore the professional development (PD) programs for mathematics teacher and teacher components of an effective professional development (PD) in the empirical studies. This systematic review utilized 40 research articles from 2015 to 2020 as data from which such data were obtained from databases such as Google Scholar, ERIC, and Springer. The findings show that the mathematics teacher professional development (PD) programs been used to give an impact on teacher attitudes and practices in terms of classroom teaching practices, student learning outcomes, and teacher knowledge and skills. In addition, teachers' factors for an effective professional development (PD) program can be classified into several parts: 1) motivation, 2) attitude, 3) commitment, and 4) self-efficacy. This study is essential to strengthening the competencies of mathematics teachers based on the best model of professional development in line with current educational needs.

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