The Impact of Shifting From “How Teachers Teach” to “How Children Learn”

Abstract

The authors report the results of a 5-year study in which a university worked collaboratively with a public school district to redesign teacher education and professional development, and to raise student achievement. The university sought to field base their teacher education program; the public school district attempted to improve faculty development. The collaborative goal of the university and school district was to improve education in the public school and thereby raise student achievement. In a collaborative effort, university faculty, public school teachers, and university pre-service teachers used shared decision making to enhance the learning of public school students. Thus, the focus of planning for university seminars and public school staff development shifted to fit the needs of public school students. The collaborative's vision was based on education practices that (a) were developmentally appropriate, (b) valued cultural and linguistic diversity, and (c) recognized the social nature of learning. Results suggest that the efforts of the collaboration produced heightened awareness/sensitivity for teachers, improved teacher performance, and substantially increased levels of student achievement in reading, writing, and mathematics.

Key Words:

• achievement
• field-based teacher education
• professional development schools