The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the professional development component of Comprehensive School Reform on the mathematics achievement of third and fifth grade students attending selected Title I schools in Virginia. A qualitative research design was used to examine data from a focus group of four technical assistance providers, six principal interviews, and thirteen teacher surveys. This study involved participants of the 2003 cohort of the Comprehensive School Reform process during a 3-year period from 2003 through 2006. A set of questions was developed for each group of participants to acquire their perceptions of the components of professional development that impacted instruction and enhanced student achievement in mathematics. A constant comparative method was used to analyze key words and direct quotes from the focus group interview, principal interviews, and teacher surveys. Triangulation of these data was utilized to identify emergent themes. The findings revealed that the professional development component of Comprehensive School Reform had a significant impact on classroom instruction and student achievement in mathematics. Findings also revealed that the technical assistance provider served as a coach and resource for professional development. Findings indicated that professional development included data analysis and research-based instructional strategies as contributing factors for increased student achievement. The Virginia Standards of Learning pass rates of spring 2006 showed significant gains in the mathematics achievement of students in Grades 3 and 5 attending the Title I schools participating in Comprehensive School Reform. It was evident in the findings of this study that professional development significantly impacted the mathematics achievement of students attending the 2003 Comprehensive School Reform cohort of selected schools in Virginia. This information will serve as a resource for administrators of Title I schools in Virginia that have not met the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. / Ph. D.

How do teachers respond to being told by the state what to teach? Whilst some suggest prescription can be instrumental in rapid system improvements, others believe that it has a deleterious effect on the profession. In this study, I firstly look at whether South Africa can be classified as a system increasing its levels of prescription and secondly consider how such an approach may affect teachers. Detailed investigation of policy documents finds that South African primary mathematics is an example of ‘unprescribed prescription’, typified by documents with hugely detailed teaching and learning practices but which are never made sufficiently mandatory. Studies of teachers’ responses to prescriptive educational reform are hindered by stereotypes, often based around teachers’ unwillingness to change. In-depth interviews allow the study to explore the positive and negative effects which teachers’ professional identities have upon decisions regarding policy reform. Equally, far from being passive in their reception of change, teachers displayed highly-ordered and well-reasoned viewpoints on how educational change should be successful. This allowed me to place teachers into four discrete categories according to their response to prescription and the implications of these categories for policy makers are put forward.