Workshop for Education Leaders and Evaluators on Improved Methods of Evaluating Quality of Professional Development for Mathematics and Science Teachers

Council Of Chief State School Officers, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) proposes to lead a project that will provide training, technical assistance, and dissemination of findings regarding research-based methods of rating the quality of teacher professional development, and training and assistance on use of effective models for evaluating programs that will improve the quality of findings regarding professional development across state-supported programs. A key contribution of this project will be to provide research-based evidence and criteria and tools for use by state leaders and program evaluators to determine the quality and effectiveness of math and science teacher professional development. Research studies have identified the characteristics of program initiatives that are most effective in improving the skills and knowledge of teachers and influencing teaching practice: 1) content-focused, 2) collaboration within schools, 3) coherence with other activities (e.g., curriculum and standards), 4) sufficient duration and follow-up, 5) active learning methods, and 6) organization of activity. CCSSO is unique in its ability, through its organizational structure to provide leadership to states on key education K-12 policy issues and technical assistance to state specialists on research and evaluation. The project is designed to accomplish several specific goals toward advancing the quality of evaluation of professional development with teachers of science and math: (1) disseminate study findings to education leaders in all states to assist them with their efforts to improve models for broad-scale evaluation of professional development, (2) identify key data items and measures of quality, and (3) apply value-added models for determining effects.