The influence of collective and individual sensemaking on how facilitators and teachers implement a professional development program

ABSTRACT

This study takes a sociocultural approach in examining how mathematics professional development facilitators and teachers enacted a professional development program in a statewide network of trainings. Facilitators (N = 11) and teachers (N = 62) were surveyed before and after implementation to capture how facilitators understood and then implemented the program with teachers, and how teachers interpreted and then enacted the program with students. Differences in uptake (intended use) and implementation (actual use) were investigated in two separate analyses that looked for differences (1) across levels of iteration (i.e., from original program to facilitators to teachers) and (2) between groups of teachers who participated in the trainings. Results showed substantial variation across levels and between groups such that, although less true of some groups than others, intention to use the program was higher than actual use. Insights are offered into how collective and individual sensemaking processes influence program implementation.

KEYWORDS:

• Sensemaking
• in-service professional development
• implementation
• sociocultural
• mathematics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jayce R. Warner

Jayce R. Warner, PhD, is a Research Associate at the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He conducts research on a wide range of topics including teacher professional development, equity issues in computer science education, parent–child language interactions, and psychosocial factors that underlie student and teacher behavior.

Debra L. Plowman

Debra L. Plowman, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Texas A & M University in Corpus Christi Texas in the College of Education for the Curriculum, Instruction, and Learning Sciences Department. Her research focuses on effective mathematics professional development across K–12 grade levels and the study of teacher decision making while teaching and learning fractions and proportional reasoning through problem solving.

David J. Osman

David J. Osman, PhD, is a Research Scientist for Gibson Consulting Group, an education research and consulting group serving educational organizations across the United States. His research examines teachers’ and students’ motivation, emotion, and learning.

Diane L. Schallert

Diane L. Schallert, PhD, is professor emeritus of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is interested in the interface between language, motivation, and learning situated in social and cultural contexts.