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In response to the NSTADraft
Position Statement: Professional Development in Science Education (Spring
2006)
Also used for discussion purposes:
Bridging the Gap Between Standards and Achievement: The Imperative for Professional
Development in Education
Author: Elmore, R.
Publication Date: 2002
Full text available online at: http://www.shankerinstitute.org/Downloads/Bridging_Gap.pdf
Abstract (written by Author/Publisher):
In this publication, released by the Albert Shanker Institute in conjunction
with a professional development forum cosponsored with Achieve, Inc., Harvard
professor Richard Elmore argues that education reforms that are based on
standards and accountability will fail unless policymakers also adopt a strategy
to ensure that educators have the knowledge and skill they need to help students
succeed. The bottom line, says Elmore, is not in issues of governance and
process, but in how the quality of instructional practice affects student
learning.
Professional development should concentrate on specific issues of science
content and pedagogy that are derived from research and exemplary practice.
Program should connect issues of instruction and student learning of knowledge
and skills to the actual context of classrooms.
Positive Attributes:
- RET
promotes research in the classroom. This leads to higher test scores
(several recent studies show this.)
- Tools
on lesson development need to include connections to state/national standards
... Needs a feedback look on assessment.
Professional development should promote collaboration among teachers in the
same school, grade, or subject.
Positive Attributes:
- RET
projects tend to be interdisciplinary in nature so they tend to allow
teachers to collaborate in create projects/activities for students.
- RET promotes
collaboration between teachers in different schools.
- Does RET
promote cross-curricular collaboration? How can this be done. Offer scientific
and technical writing programs at schools?
- Many teachers
from the same school can complete a RET program; this provides support
for new
initiatives.
Negative Attributes:
- Pull
teachers from same school.
- Programs
are too small – teachers come from different subjects,
grade levels, schools.
Professional development
programs should be based on the needs of science educators, both individual
and collaborative groups, involved in the program.
Ongoing professional development initiatives should be assessed and refined
to meet teachers’ changing needs.
Positive Attributes:
- Breaking
down the silos
- Work
on awesome equipment (tools and toys)
- Connection
between schools and universities
- RET alumni
should provide input/feedback to the program’s structure
and prospective RET participants should have access to the assessments.
- Alumni should be on development team that sets up program structure.
- RET promotes collaboration between teachers, even those who are reluctant,
since in their research experiences they realize
that
to succeed they must
work together.
Negative Attributes:
- Not
always teams from the same school.
- Better
fit between research assignment and teacher’s individual needs.
- Not all
of our students get exposure to awesome equipment.
Professional development should engage science educators in transformative
learning experiences that confront deeply held beliefs, knowledge, and habits
of practice.
Positive Attributes:
- Moving
out of comfort zone.
- Ask questions >>> do research >>> active engagement.
- Refine
how science works.
- Practice
inquiry as a student.
- Encourages
the teacher to engage students in new experimental designs.
-
Teachers come into research with a different perspective than their researchers
(focus on translating experience to classroom).
- Science
is dynamic and always evolving, forcing teachers
to examine their technical practices and constantly self-improving.
Negative Attributes:
- Limited
transfer to classroom and colleagues.
- Don’t
get to finish project (i.e., see the big picture start to finish)
- Lack
of classroom resources/materials make it hard to apply the research.
Limited abilities/background knowledge of students to grasp the
concepts of some of the research.
Professional development programs should be based on student learning needs
and should help science educators address difficulties students have with
subject-matter knowledge and skills.
Positive Attributes:
-
RET forces teachers to gain a deeper understanding of subject matter;
as a result, they develop new ways to explain different concepts.
- Allows
for teacher collaboration.
- Remind
teachers how it feels to be a student (more reflective of learning styles/needs).
- RET encourages teachers to continue to revamp their lesson plans to
meet the changing needs of students.
- RET promotes
discovery-based learning over traditional lecture-based learning so it
inherently provides students
an alternative way
of learning the concepts.
- RET promotes
non-content specific learning in classrooms.
Negative Attributes:
- Might
not have direct transference to the classroom.
Professional development should be integrated and coordinated with other
initiatives in schools and embedded in curriculum, instruction, and assessment
practices.
Positive Attributes:
-
RET program promotes collaboration between school and RET university
in providing students a chance to visit the university to learn about
careers
in engineering.
- How many
RET participants are involved with curriculum development teams from
their schools?
- RET needs
to do a better job showing the positive impact research in the classroom
has on standardized test scores.
- RET data
shows an improvement on student achievement after teachers complete the
program.
Negative Attributes:
- Integrated
and coordinated with classroom, not necessarily with school initiatives.
Professional development should actively involve teachers in observing, analyzing,
and applying feedback to teaching practices.
Positive Attributes:
-
Yes, we agree.
- RET allows
teachers to observe scientists applying the scientific method,
and in turn to applying these techniques in their curriculum and
classrooms.
- Would
like to see scientist mentors playing a more active role in the classroom
with students/teachers. How can we do this?
- RET allows
teachers to become the scientist.
- Programs
need to share best practices for educators’ needs.
- Applying
feedback improves best practices.
Professional development programs should maintain a sustained focus over
time, providing opportunities for continuous involvement.
Positive Attributes:
-
Sustainability depends on funding.
- Sustained
as in “5 or 6 weeks” or over the course of a year
or multiple years??
- Many
RET programs recruit only first-time RET teachers rather than veterans,
often due to budgetary reasons; we feel returnees could
benefit a lot in
returning in following summers.
-
Part of tenure and retention for faculty.
- Ongoing
workshops during the year.
Negative Attributes:
- How do
you get school district buy-in?
- Can’t come back [to some RET programs] after one year.
