In 1992, the state of Texas awarded a number of inducement grants to collaboratives of universities, schools, and service centers to develop field-based professional development schools (PDSs) and provide preservice and inservice teachers with extensive professional development. This study investigated the design and effects of the professional development models in these Texas Centers for Professional Development and Technology (CPDTs). This study used qualitative data collection and analysis procedures. Raw data were collected in the form of individual interviews, focus group interviews, documentation, and fieldnotes. Forty-six interviews were completed involving a total of 83 respondents representing all partnering entities: university representatives, school representatives, education service center representatives, and policymakers. Documentation included annual and quarterly reports, grant applications, and program approval requests. Fieldnotes included observational data from site visits. Data analysis was an iterative process using a constant comparative analysis of coded categories emerging fromtranscribed data. This comparison examined: the vision of professional development as perceived by the respondents, the enactment of professional development as experienced by the respondents, and the effects that the CPDT initiative had on professional development as perceived by the respondents. This study revealed 18 themes that were common across all eight Texas CPDTs. The themes revealed patterns of vision which included: developing a common ground, breaking barriers, evolving visions, and partnership tradeoffs. Patterns of enactment included formal and informal professional development opportunities. Patterns of effects included: empowerment of teachers, updating of university faculty on public school issues, better prepared classroom-ready interns, and more attention for K-12 students. Another pattern of effect included the distraction of "technology toys" and the difficulty keeping pace with new technologies. The study provided strong evidence that relationship building processes are crucial for building a sustained learning situation for a community of learners. The themes also provided information regarding the demands of institutionalizing and reculturing required to sustain the Professional Development School model.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This study investigated teacher supervision methods in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the absence of state mandated requirements. The literature supports the use of formative and summative feedback, multiple data sources and methods, collaboration between teacher and supervisor, professional growth goals linked to school improvement, and measures of student learning.A web-based questionnaire was used to survey 229 public elementary school teachers across Virginia regarding which teacher supervision methods are used, teacher perception toward those methods, and whether teacher perceptions vary with the method, supervisor's leadership style, or teacher characteristics. The data suggest that a majority of school division supervision programs in Virginia used formative and summative methods with an emphasis on formative, and multiple data sources that measures of student learning and standardized test scores. A majority of supervision programs also emphasize collaboration between supervisor and teacher, and individual professional growth goals. Weak to moderate correlations and significant differences were found between measures of the dependent variable, teacher perceptions of supervision, and measures of the independent variable, method of supervision and aspects of the supervisor's leadership style.

The purpose of this case study was to explore how a group of principals from diverse backgrounds and different locations create and perpetuate a virtual community of practice. This investigation is a case study of Connected Principals, a group that has come together to create a regular blog on significant issues within education and the principalship. In addition, this group regularly disseminates pertinent information on Twitter via a hash tag. The study includes a content analysis of the blogs posted by Connected Principals as well as social network analysis of the group’s Twitter network and of the key players within the Twitter network. In addition, the investigation includes interviews with six of the key blog and Twitter contributors in order to triangulate the information gleaned from the other analyses. The results of the study provide a thorough description of Connected Principals. While the study set out with the framework of a community of practice, the findings led to the idea that what was actually created by this group is an affinity space. In addition, the results give indication that the members of the group generate social capital within their field. Overall, the study contributes to the literature by providing an in-depth look at a relatively new field in education.

Increased state and federal accountability measures have made the assessment of student performance one of the most critical responsibilities of classroom teachers; yet, inadequate opportunities for preservice and inservice training leave many teachers feeling ill-prepared for this task. Adding to the complexity of building teachers’ assessment literacy is the relationship between assessment beliefs and classroom assessment practices. This quantitative study utilizes a validated, online survey to examine how elementary teachers’ (n = 79) define their assessment beliefs (conceptions) and how these beliefs influence which assessment practices are valued within the classroom. Findings suggest that despite teachers’ limited exposure to assessment training, four distinct assessment beliefs exist within the elementary classroom: assessment for school accountability, assessment for student certification, assessment for improvement of teaching and learning, and assessment as irrelevant. Assessment for the improvement of teaching and learning yielded the highest composite mean and was negatively correlated with the irrelevance belief and positively related to school accountability. An analysis of the importance of assessment practices revealed authentic assessments, short answers, teacher-made assessments, and performance assessments as the most valued, while publisher assessments and major exams had the lowest means. Significant relationships were identified between demographics and beliefs and practices, with the most practical findings related to exposure to assessment training and level of degree attainment. Significant relationships were also noted between all beliefs and the value of specific assessment practices, with the exception of the irrelevance belief. No significant relationships were noted between the irrelevant belief and value of assessment practices; however, many negative correlations were documented. Results are discussed in light of other research, indicating that a greater understanding of assessment beliefs and importance of practices can contribute to the development of relevant professional development aimed at the improvement of teachers’ assessment pedagogies and practices can contribute to greater educational success.

The purpose of this research was to investigate special educators’ problem solving approaches through the lens of adaptive expertise. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used with participants of varying experience levels and teaching contexts from one Mid-Atlantic state. Participants responded to a researcher-developed survey about their orientations to problem solving (N = 162), then a purposive sample completed semi-structured interviews (N = 8). Following survey measure refinement and validation, quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, z-scores, correlation, and chi-square test of independence. Subsequently, qualitative data were analyzed through iterative cycles of hypothesis and open coding. Finally, quantitative and qualitative data were linked through mixed methods analysis. Results of exploratory factor analysis identified an 18-item, two-factor structure within the survey measure. Survey results indicated most special educators had more adaptive than routine expertise orientations to problem solving; for some these orientations were balanced, while others had a much stronger orientation to adaptive expertise. Though no statistical relationship was found between teaching experience and participants’ degree of adaptive or routine tendencies when problem solving, teachers interviewed spoke of the role of experience in shaping their problem solving approaches. Many also noted that the application of particular approaches were dependent upon characteristics of their teaching contexts. Literature-based indicators of adaptive expertise were evident across examples of problem solving in special educators’ narrative data. Together, survey and interview data captured a more comprehensive and nuanced picture of special educators’ problem solving in practice than either approach could have alone.

The literature shows that up to 50% of teachers will leave the profession within their first 5 years of teaching (Saka, Southerland, Kittleson, & Hutner, 2013). Although reasons for departure vary, Johnson and Kardos (2005) found schools with high-poverty and high-minority students display excessive rates of teacher turnover. Teacher induction programs were established to assist beginning teachers as they transition into their new professional career in an attempt to increase retention rates. This research aimed to explore beginning teachers from high need schools’ experiences with university-based PLC induction. A total of 23 teachers participated in the induction programs during the 2015 - 2016 academic year. This research provides findings from three different data sources: interview transcripts, surveys, and focus group transcripts. Data was collected to understand beginning teachers’ experience with induction, the types of support offered by the programs, their intentions to remain at their school, and their attitudes towards the method of program delivery. Findings indicate that the majority of the teachers had positive experiences with the two induction programs. Mostly, the teachers felt that induction provided emotional and personal support. According to the novice teachers, administrative support had the largest influence on their intentions to stay or leave their high need schools. As a result, the teachers provided mixed results as to induction’s impact on their decision to stay or leave their current school. Finally, the majority of teachers prefer in-person models to virtual models although there were advantages and disadvantages to both types of programs.

Professional learning, commonly referred to in policy and practice as continuing professional development, is presented to teachers as both a requirement and an entitlement in current education policy (Gewirtz, 2002; Ball, 2003). This work explores the ways in which professional learning is experienced by three teachers, and the meanings they attribute to those experiences. The study adopts a narrative approach to these accounts (Clandinin, 2013; Clandinin and Connelly, 1996; 1998; 2004) and is underpinned by the recognition of the complexity in the interplay between the individual teacher and their social context specifically focusing on “the relationship between the state, the ideologies of professionalism, and lived interiority” (Hey and Bradford, 2004: 693). The methodology was developed to overcome the problem of policy and aspects of practice that fail to focus on the effective involvement and engagement of teachers in professional learning: the teachers have become “missing persons” (Evans, 1999: i). The research process placed the meaning made by the teachers of their past experiences, and the way they understood them in the present, at the centre of the research (Kelchtermans, 2009; MacLure, 1993). Data were collected as part of a collaborative process with teachers who shared and analysed their narratives of professional learning through a series of research conversations. The teachers gave accounts of the people and incidents that they understood to be significant in influencing their professional learning, in relation to their expectations of themselves and of professionals and people more generally. In doing so they drew on both professional and personal contexts (Makopoulou and Armour, 2011). There were significant challenges in relation to ethics, analysis and re-presentation. This study illustrates the complexity and contingency of teachers’ professional learning through their understanding of themselves and their interaction with, and response to, significant people and incidents (Kelchtermans and Vandenberghe, 1994). Their “stories to live by” (Clandinin and Connelly, 1998: 149) illuminate the ways in which teachers explain the complexities and contingencies underpinning their experiences of professional learning. The data illustrate the crucial role that context plays in understanding professional learning (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000: 27) and the challenges teachers face in balancing their roles as policy subjects and policy actors (Ball, Maguire, Braun and Hoskins, 2011a and b). This work makes a unique contribution to the field of professional learning by using the detailed individual cases of each teacher to illustrate general concerns for the development of effective policy and practice. It also contributes to the methodological debates around the use of narratives as a means of understanding the “human condition” (Arendt, 1958). The data challenge us to consider the possibilities that narrative accounts and analyses offer for the generation of knowledge in this area with implications for both teachers and other professionals, and policy and practice.

The master's thesis is focused on teachers' professional development. It is based on the Theoretical Knowledge Gained from literature, electronic resources and current research. It describes the historical progress of the concept of teachers' education, program and legislative documents, the significance of teachers' professional development and career system. Provides an overview of teachers' development activities in the workplace and outside the workplace. The aim of the work is to determine trends in education by monitoring opportunities of teachers' development in the workplace and outside the workplace. Questionnaire survey is focused on the preferences of directors in the field of teachers' professional development, their training needs, effectiveness and defining the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. The result of the thesis is to map areas and compare activities of teachers' development that can be used for further study or be an inspiration for the involved stakeholders. KEYWORDS: teacher, professional development, comparison, career system

Despite the growing importance of science and technology in society, school students consider these subjects irrelevant and hard to learn. Teachers must therefore know how to teach science in ways that enhance students’ understanding and interest. This thesis explores various aspects of the teaching and learning of chemical bonding, an important topic in school chemistry that is primarily taught using models. Research has shown that students find chemical bonding difficult to understand, and that the use of models in science education contributes to this difficulty. I therefore investigated teachers’ knowledge of how to teach chemical bonding and ways of developing it to improve students’ understanding. To this end, I analysed chemistry textbooks and teachers’ lesson plans, and conducted semi-structured interviews with teachers about their teaching of chemical bonding. This revealed that the representations of chemical bonding used in textbooks and by teachers can cause students difficulties. The teachers were generally unaware of how these representations might affect students’ understanding, implying that their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) could be improved. To explore ways of incorporating research findings into teaching practice and developing teachers’ PCK, I conducted a learning study in which three secondary science teachers together explored and reflected on their own teaching practice. CoRe, a method for creating detailed descriptions of what, how, and why specific content is taught, was used to enhance the reflections and make the teachers’ PCK explicit. As a result, the teachers developed their representations of chemical bonding, became more aware of students’ understanding, and were better able to motivate their actions and choices of content and strategies. This thesis shows how professional development can bridge the gap between research and teaching practice, and how teachers’ PCK can be developed to improve students’ understanding. / Many complex real-world phenomena can only be understood using models that make the abstract visible and provide explanations, predictions, descriptions, or simplifications. However, research has shown that students have difficulties understanding models used in science education in general, and particularly chemical bonding models. This thesis examines various aspects of the teaching and learning of chemical bonding, and its presentation in textbooks and by teachers. It is shown that the representations used by teachers and in textbooks can cause students to have difficulties in understanding, which teachers were generally unaware of. Teachers rarely justify their choices specifically to overcome students’ difficulties, suggesting that their knowledge of how to teach chemical bonding could be improved. A learning study in which teachers collaboratively explored and reflected on their own teaching practice significantly improved their presentation of chemical bonding, their awareness of students’ understanding, and their ability to justify their choices. Overall, this work shows that there is a gap between research and teaching practice, and that effective ways of incorporating research results into teaching practice are needed to improve teaching and learning in chemistry.