The power of feedback.

Summary Of the more than 1,300 studies identi-fied as potentially addressing the effect of teacher professional development on student achievement in three key con-tent areas, nine meet What Works Clear-inghouse evidence standards, attesting to the paucity of rigorous studies that directly examine this link. This report finds that teachers who receive sub-stantial professional development—an average of 49 hours in the nine studies—can boost their students’ achievement by about 21 percentile points. How does teacher professional development affect student achievement? The connection seems intuitive. But demonstrating it is difficult. Examining more than 1,300 studies identified as potentially addressing the effect of teacher professional development on student achieve-ment in three key content areas, this report finds nine that meet What Works Clearing-house evidence standards. That only nine meet standards attests to the paucity of rigorous studies that directly assess the effect of in-service teacher professional development on student achievement in mathematics, science, and reading and English/language arts.But the results of those studies—that average control group students would have increased their achievement by 21 percentile points if their teacher had received substantial profes-sional development—indicates that provid-ing professional development to teachers had a moderate effect on student achievement across the nine studies. The effect size was fairly consistent across the three content areas reviewed. All nine studies focused on elementary school teachers and their students. About half fo-cused on lower elementary grades (kindergar-ten and first grade), and about half on upper elementary grades (fourth and fifth grades).Six studies were published in peer-reviewed journals; three were unpublished doctoral dissertations. The studies were not particularly recent, ranging from 1986 to 2003.Five studies were randomized controlled trials that meet evidence standards without reserva-tions. Four studies meet evidence standards with reservations (one randomized controlled trial with group equivalence problems and three quasi-experimental designs).Four focused on student achievement in read-ing and English/language arts—unsurprising given the large literature in this content area. Two studies focused on mathemat-ics, two on mathematics and reading and

https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/southwest/pdf/rel_2007033_sum.pdf

Reviewing the evidence on how teacher professional development affects student achievement

El programa Iterative BES esta a la vanguardia de una ola de actividad que esta dramaticamente
alterando el panorama de las reformas, vinculando la investigacion con las politicas y la practica. Este interes en las politicas y practicas fundamentadas en evidencias estan impulsadas por una conciencia cada vez mayor de la necesidad de una mejor comprension de los complejos problemas a los que nos enfrentamos y la necesidad de utilizar plenamente los conocimiento para desarrollar mejores soluciones. Muchas jurisdicciones y organizaciones estan emprendiendo revisiones sistematicas de la investigacion educativa con el objetivo de difundir el conocimiento ganado a los responsables de la formulacion de politicas y los profesionales. Ninguno esta tan bien establecido o sistematico como el Programa Iterativo BES del Ministerio de Educacion de Nueva Zelanda.

Teacher professional learning and development: Best evidence synthesis iteration

Background: The suboptimal compliance to vaccinations continues to be a major public health problem.

Factors associated with

Based on an invited address given by the first author at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association in Boston, April 1980.

/pdf/learning-to-learn-on-training-students-to-learn-from-texts-4ynrj8c158.pdf

Learning to Learn: On Training Students to Learn from Texts. Technical Report No. 189.

The practice of storybook reading to preschool children in mainstream New Zealand families.

Schools with primarily indigenous and ethnic minorities in low socioeconomic areas have long been associated with low levels of achievement, particularly in literacy. This is true for New Zealand despite high levels of reading comprehension by international comparisons (e.g., PISA). Recent reviews of schooling improvement suggest small gains over the short term are possible with well-designed interventions, but for children in the middle primary school years, the criterion against which effective interventions need to be judged is sustained and systematic acceleration across levels of achievement in order to achieve equitable distributions of achievement. Plotting gains across time is also needed to examine whether “summer effects” can be overcome. The present quasi-experimental design study was a three-year research and development collaboration among schools, government, and researchers to raise reading comprehension through critical discussions of achievement and teacher observation data and linking research on effective comprehension practices to specific needs. The collaboration resulted in increased rates of achievement that were variable but sustained across three years. The growth model showed a step-like pattern with rapid gains over school months and a plateau over summer. Over three years this represented an average achievement gain across cohorts followed longitudinally of one year’s progress in addition to expected progress over that period with stanine effect sizes of d = 0.62. The results show the significance of testing effects against the criterion of sustained and systematic achievement and the need to examine growth over multiple calendar years to better represent the pattern of gains.

Sustained Acceleration of Achievement in Reading Comprehension: The New Zealand Experience.

Intervention models based on data use can be effective in raising student achievement. This article presents 3 studies of one such model which had reported improved reading comprehension levels in 7 poor urban multicultural schools serving indigenous and ethnic minority communities. The intervention (the Learning Schools Model) used a process comprising critical discussions of achievement and teacher observation data to develop specific and contextualized content for fine-tune instruction. The reliability and generality of the effects of the model were tested in a cluster of “like” schools and a cluster of “unlike” schools. The growth models showed similar effects to the original schools, with gains of between 3 to 4 months additional progress per year over 3 years. The replications show that models that use data to design local program content can be reliably and generally effective, but also there is a need to examine differential effects.

Testing the Effectiveness of an Intervention Model Based on Data Use: A Replication Series across Clusters of Schools.

Schooling improvement initiatives have demonstrated that moderate but significant achievement gains are possible with well designed interventions, but there is little research into whether these gains can be sustained. The present study examines the extent to which acceleration in achievement made during a three-year literacy intervention and the associated school-based practices were continued. Statistical modelling showed continued acceleration in student achievement (four months in addition to expected progress) at a rate similar to the intervention. The school-based practices associated with sustainability were part of a process of change (rather than a specific instructional programme) comprising two dimensions — organisational learning through ongoing inquiry into solving problems arising from teaching and learning and the development of professional learning communities to promote organisational learning. Effectiveness was enhanced by schools embedding the process into their normal school routines as part of a coherent instructional programme and the availability of expertise.

Sustaining Continued Acceleration in Reading Comprehension Achievement Following an Intervention

Despite New Zealand's reputation in literacy instruction, a major achievement gap has been identified for minority Maori and Pacific Islands children in poor schools. An intervention through professional development of teachers modified instructional practices in beginning literacy instruction. The intervention involved 72 teachers from 12 schools who focused on children in the 1st 6 months of schools. A mixed longitudinal and cross-sectional design was used to examine the effects of the intervention on the language and literacy of 344 children across the age range of 5.0-6.0 years. The children in these schools made accelerated progress and gained higher levels of achievement across a broad band of measures compared with matched cohort groups. It is possible to raise achievement for minority children in schools serving low socioeconomic communities to near national levels.

Managing the mismatch: Enhancing early literacy progress for children with diverse language and cultural identities in mainstream urban schools in New Zealand

Stuart McNaughton

Papers

The practice of storybook reading to preschool children in mainstream New Zealand families.

Sustained Acceleration of Achievement in Reading Comprehension: The New Zealand Experience.

Testing the Effectiveness of an Intervention Model Based on Data Use: A Replication Series across Clusters of Schools.

Sustaining Continued Acceleration in Reading Comprehension Achievement Following an Intervention

Managing the mismatch: Enhancing early literacy progress for children with diverse language and cultural identities in mainstream urban schools in New Zealand