The professional development opportunities and the impact these opportunities had on teachers instruction were examined through a case study design. This school was selected because it was participating in a reform initiative and had improving student achievement scores.
The research questions for this study included: (1) What was the nature of professional development in a Reading First School in which reading achievement improved and how were professional development activities made available to teachers? (2) What features of the professional development activity aligned with what was known about effective professional development and what were the similarities and differences in perceptions of teachers, coaches, and principal about the participation and characteristics of effective professional development? (3) What were teachers perceptions about how their involvement in professional development activities changed or influenced their instructional practices? (4) In what ways has professional development impacted teachers instruction?
This study had ten participants; the principal, the full-time reading coach, the part-time reading coach, and seven teachers (i.e. grades 1-3 and special education were represented in this sample). A core reading program was implemented at this school. This study included a pre-observation interview, a classroom observation, and a post-observation interview.
The findings for this study indicated that various professional development opportunities were available for teachers since the implementation of the Reading First grant. Also, although all participants in this study identified professional development opportunities that included characteristics of effective professional development, the literacy leaders (i.e. the principal and full-time coach) perspectives of influential professional development were different from the practicing teachers perspectives. Teachers perceived professional development to influence their knowledge of content, pedagogy, and curriculum. And finally, the professional development opportunities that most often influenced teachers classroom reading instruction were those that connected to the core reading program.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-12052007-144327 |
| Date | 29 January 2008 |
| Creators | Morewood, Aimee L. |
| Contributors | Dr. Linda Kucan, Dr. Rebecca Hamilton, Dr. Nick Coles, Dr. Naomi Zigmond, Dr. Rita Bean |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-12052007-144327/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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