The impact of a dynamic approach to professional development on teacher instruction and student learning: results from an experimental study

Abstract

This paper argues that Educational Effectiveness Research (EER) should establish closer links with research on teacher professional development. A dynamic integrated approach (DIA) to teacher professional development is proposed. The methods and results of a study comparing the impact of the DIA and the Holistic Approach (HA) to teacher professional development are presented. Teaching skills of 130 teachers and achievement of their students (n = 2356) were measured at the beginning and at the end of the intervention. Teachers found to be at a certain developmental stage were randomly allocated evenly into 2 groups. The first group employed the DIA and the second the HA. Teachers employing the DIA managed to improve their teaching skills more than teachers employing the HA. The use of the DIA also had a significant impact on student achievement. Implications of findings for the use of EER for improvement purposes are drawn.

Keywords:

• educational effectiveness research
• teacher improvement
• evaluation of teacher professional development
• stages of teaching skills
• dynamic perspectives of education

Acknowledgements

The research presented in this paper is part of a 2-year project entitled “Development and Evaluation of Teacher Professional Development Programs for the Improvement of Teaching and the Enhancement of Student Attainment”, funded by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation.