Search results for: Professional development schools

Using a broad-based assessment for understanding what teachers learn in historic site-based professional development (HSBPD), this study follows 29 teachers from a HSBPD at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello to see how their work at historic sites affected their practice upon return to their classrooms. Influenced by the Interconnected Model of Teacher Growth and Complexity theory, this study considers the complex outcomes of teachers as individuals, professionals, and learners in communities of practice. Results explore a range of outcomes related to content, pedagogical content knowledge, working with peers, interactions with the historic site, and a willingness to reconsider historical information. The discussion offers a consideration of the network of HSBPDs as a cumulative system and the ways in which teachers’ on-site work can deepen our understanding of working with complex historical sources and make larger curricular changes.

This paper aims to documenting self-study processes and findings of a collaborative research group that examined a professional development school (PDS) partnership. This study revealed the complexity of the PDS relationship and the tensions and dilemmas associated with it. It revealed that experiential disparity existed within and among faculty and students in various PDS sites as a result of poor communication as well as divergent models of collaboration and philosophical goals between faculty and mentor teachers. Disparity in the learning experiences among the preservice teachers was attributed to the quality and scope of the partnership. This study helped the participants realize that they were engaged in an innovation and like all innovations, people struggle together naturally until a true solution to the problems is found.

The aim of this study is to provide deeper insight into the realisation of teacher research in professional development schools in the Netherlands. Participants of these schools were asked for their perceptions of the actual and preferred situation concerning teacher research in terms of the context, processes and outcomes of practice-based research activities by teachers-as-researchers. The authors can conclude that a large difference between the actual and preferred situation was noticeable. Additionally, pupil learning and outcomes seemed not to be a central focal area of the participants at this moment. Finally, the results suggest that in Dutch professional development schools increased attention is needed both by researchers and practitioners on the process and outcome dimensions of doing teacher research.

Three secondary schools in Amsterdam decided to facilitate teachers in their schools to engage in practice research. The overall aim of the pilot programme was to connect the three elements of teaching, development and research to each other and to embed them in the schools’ practice in such a way as to increase their capacity for innovation. The authors conclude that this research shows the importance of teamwork. Furthermore, teacher researchers need to be given a clear position and status within the school. Finally, the school management can also help ensure that the results of the research are actually used within the school by giving the teacher researchers a leading role in team meetings and study days.