While school districts across the nation are pressed to make better and more frequent use of a range of educational data, they have few resources that help guide the process of improving educator capacity for data use. To date, there have been few efforts to examine the intersection of professional learning and data use to better guide efforts at improving educator data use capacity. In order to learn more about how school districts attempt to meet educator needs in terms of data-related learning, and how they use policies to approach this issue, I examined the intersection of data use and professional learning in three school districts. I used a qualitative case study methodology to examine these issues, and relied on interview data from n=110 individuals across the three districts, as well as document analysis in each district, to better understand the existing structures in each context and how those structures came to be. I also utilized random sampling for some focus groups, and used a peer nomination process for other focus groups, which allowed me to identify educators thought by their colleagues to be “exemplar” data users. I found that across the districts, educators at all levels articulated with remarkable consistency a range of skills and knowledge they said were essential to good data use. Also, educators were consistent in describing the kinds of professional learning structures they thought best supported their needs as learners. However, in most cases, district structures fell short of these ideals. The districts rarely codified expectations related to the structure of professional learning or to data-related skills and knowledge in formal policy, and planning related to data use tended to be fragmented among many departments and leaders. As a result, there were many assumptions that “someone else” or another department was providing support in terms of data-related professional learning, while many times data use-related learning simply fell between the cracks. Informed by existing research and the results of this study, I posited a model aimed at supporting policymakers as they engage in planning for data-related professional learning. / text

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how teachers discuss pedagogy and learning in the context of a professional learning community in an elementary school. This understanding has the potential to assist principals and teachers to establish professional learning communities that use their time productively. Study participants belonged to a fifth grade professional learning community. Data sources included video and audio recordings, transcripts, field notes, interviews and artifacts. The data were examined for Episodes of Pedagogical Reasoning (Horn, 2005) which was the unit of analysis for the study. Episodes of Pedagogical Reasoning are units of teacher-to-teacher talk where teachers show their comprehension of a concern in their practice. One finding from the data analysis indicated that although the professional learning community in the study did not follow the "ideal" PLC model, the teachers used the time they were given to accomplish what they needed to do in the course of implementing the Common Core Standards. Another finding was the teachers use of practical talk (Doyle & Ponder, 1978) in determining how best to implement the Common Core Standards. Their practical talk focused on instrumentality and congruence. Instrumentality is defined as a change proposal that must describe a method in a way that depicts classroom contingencies. If the procedure fits the way a teacher normally conducts classroom activities, then it is congruent.

New curriculum reforms and changes post 1994 has created a need for teachers to reprofessionalise and reskill themselves so that they can implement reforms in their schools and classrooms. This has added pressure on teachers, novice teachers, as well as experienced teachers who have been teaching for over fifteen years, to learn an enormous amount of knowledge in order for them to teach effectively in the classroom. Knowledge on professional development of teachers is expanding to new and useful ways of teacher learning to embrace these changes. Recent literature suggest that teacher learning in communities of practice (Wenger, 1991) or learning communities (Lieberman and Pointer Mace, 2008) actually translates into enduring and sustained learning that leads to transformation in teaching and improving the quality of education. In addition to this clustering has been introduced as a useful way of teacher learning. The purpose of this study is to explore teacher learning in learning area clusters. These clusters are considered to be learning communities, because teachers are provided with opportunities to engage in professional dialogue and collaborative problem solving in issues related to teaching and learning. The conceptual framework used in data analysis is the knowledge – practice theory proposed by Cochran Smith and Lytle (1999) as well as Day and Sachs (2004). The four domains of knowledge are knowledge for practice, knowledge in practice, knowledge of practice and knowledge of self. This framework together with Shulman’s (1987) identification of content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) was used in data analysis. The study was located within the qualitative mode of inquiry specifically in the interpretivist paradigm as it is concerned with interpretation and understanding of teacher learning experiences in clusters. In order to answer the research questions I used the method of Narrative Inquiry as this allowed me to understand how teacher knowledge is narratively composed, embodied in a person and expressed in practice. 6 I selected five participants who belong to learning area clusters who were purposively identified. Data was collected through semi structured interviews. The findings revealed that clustering is built on qualities of commitment, leads to teachers’ reflections of practices, increases confidence of teachers, promotes self-initiated learning and leads to organic learning in clusters. Clustering is one useful way of understanding teacher learning. This study contributes towards our understanding of how clusters can be used effectively to enhance teacher learning. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

This thesis explores the notion of teachers as adult learners, the professional development and professional learning available to them, and a space where these ideas can come together. Research participants offer insight into how they currently learn and use many sources of learning to create better learning opportunities for their students. Building on ideas from Lawler (2003) and Kennedy (2005) and using narrative methodology, particularly poetics and collage as a means of capturing participants’ thinking, my findings support the idea that teachers need a transformative professional development model that acknowledges them as adult learners. No single participant spoke of all of the adult learning or teacher learning principles within a single professional development experience, yet each spoke of times when one or more of those keys to their learning was present throughout their transformative experience. Simply put, teachers use many sources of learning to bring about changes to their teaching practice. All of these work together to bring about the transformation they spoke of in their stories of learning. / Graduate / 0530

This research has taken place at a time when governments in Australia, like governments throughout the Western world, have given higher priority to funding teachers’ professional learning. This support for teachers’ learning tends to be informed by standards-based ‘reforms’ of schooling, underpinned by narrowly individualistic paradigms of teacher knowledge and enacted in managerial models of professional development. The effectiveness of this ‘PD’ for individual teachers tends to be measured in rigid accountability regimes. My study is a conceptual, grounded and reflexive inquiry into teachers’ professional learning in Victoria, Australia. Central to the study is a multi-levelled account of a small group of English-literature teachers at Eastern Girls’ College, in Melbourne, Australia, learning about literary theory over a period of fourteen months. These teachers operate within an institutional setting in which they are certainly expected to be accountable in managerial terms, and yet they can be seen negotiating a very different paradigm of professional learning. In my account of their learning in this study, I develop a model of inquiry-based professional learning that offers a richly dialogic alternative to narrowly individualistic paradigms of professional knowledge and professional development.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Kent State University, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Oct. 19, 2009). Advisor: Alexa Sandmann. Keywords: professional development; common planning time; professional learning communities; middle school. Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-201).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Wyoming, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 1, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-100).

abstract: This study was designed to capture the conversations and practices of seven educators who navigate teaching and learning decisions in their Title 1 elementary school. This case study was conducted to answer the research question, "What are the behaviors and practices of a newly formed collaborative team of educators working within a professional learning community (PLC)?" In order to understand how this collaborative team worked together, data was collected through a survey, interviews, focus group discussion and questionnaire, observations of collaborative team meetings and artifacts generated from the team's work. The findings revealed that (1) participants spent the majority of their collaborative team time focusing on how to best prepare students for district and state standardized assessments; (2) teachers described themselves as learners who look to their colleagues to enhance their knowledge and skills; (3) members of PLCs need dedicated collaborative time to ensure all students and adults in the organization learn at high levels; (4) discussing and using student learning data can be difficult; (5) educators gravitate to colleagues who have similar philosophies and beliefs and (6) PLCs need supportive district, school and teacher leadership to accomplish their goals. This research study provides validation that the PLC process is a complex process of professional development designed to support school reform in an era of increased school accountability. The recommendations for school leaders are to create supportive leadership structures that allow all students opportunities to learn, build trusting environments, and provide clarity and focus of the vision for all stakeholders. District leadership needs to establish a priority for PLC work by embedding the processes in the vision, mission and goals of the district, examine policies to ensure they support the concepts of PLCs, provide access to resources and create a forum for critical conversations about teaching and learning. Policy makers need to ask the right questions so that they can design appropriate accountability systems that encourage collaboration. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011