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3. Evidence of the Influence of the National Science Education Standards on the Professional Development System
Pages 64-75

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From page 64...
... Most of the evidence points toward the influence of the National Science Foundation anc3 Title II of the oIc3 Elementary anc3 Secondary Education Act, the Eisenhower program. On the other hand, there is less evidence that the NSES have successfully influenced the state anc3 district policy structures that leverage more fundamental changes in such areas as professional development stanclarcis, teacher licensing, or re-certification requirements.
From page 65...
... However, if the results are confirmed repeatedly in studies that employ multiple research strategies, we can have increasing confidence that their findings are generalizeable. Thus, as the conceptual framework in Figure 3-1 implies, in order to consider how the NSES have influenced the various components of the professional development system, it is important to iclen~citr both the quality of the evidence and the extent to which studies reinforce each over (replicability)
From page 66...
... A broac3 range of articles, papers, reports, anc3 books were reviewed for this paper. Collectively, they represent a wide array of documents, ranging from peer-reviewec3 journal articles, to small- anc3 large-scale evaluation reports on a variety of local anc3 national professional development projects, to policy briefs put out by various organizations, to eclitec3 books, to policy reports.
From page 67...
... In the sections that follow, I describe anc3 summarize the evidence of the impact of the NSES on each of the three categories of professional development policy, pre-service, anc3 in-service. To take into account the differing quality of the empirical evidence, I include a discussion of the quality of the empirical evidence base at the end of each section.
From page 68...
... offers a thoughtful view of district policy makers' perspectives on teacher professional learning opportunities. Using interviews with district administrators, he clevelopec3 a theoretical framework of three distinct approaches about learning to situate the beliefs of district policy makers.
From page 69...
... , in their case study of Connecticut's Statewide Systemic Initiative reported that, although the SSI lacked leverage with higher education institutions, they instigated conversations about the preparation of teachers anc3 the pre-service structures in the state, anc3 several institutions altered courses anc3 institutionalized co-teaching. There also were a few papers anc3 books that clescribec3 plans anc3 efforts by universities to redesign their teacher preparation programs to align them with the conceptions of teaching anc3 learning underlying the stanclarcis movement.
From page 70...
... INFLUENCE OF THE NSES ON IN-SERVICE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS The largest body of evidence related to the impact of the NSES on teachers' professional learning opportunities resides in the area of in-service professional development. There was a fairly broac3 set of research evidence that indicates that the NSES have had an influence on the professional learning experiences that many current teachers receive.
From page 71...
... Using longitudinal case studies of 12 of the SSIs, site visits to the other SSIs, internal SSI documentation anc3 evaluation reports, anc3 monitoring reports from an external monitor, they compiled several findings. First, they concluclec3 that the SSIs invested heavily in professional development.
From page 72...
... examined the alignment between the learning opportunities that teachers in California hac3 experienced after the introduction of the state frameworks, which were heavily influenced (and thus presumably aligned) with the NCTM Mathematics Stanclarcis.
From page 73...
... The authors conclude that, through teachers' selfreports, the resource teachers demonstrate that they have been actively involved in improving mathematics anc3 science teaching anc3 learning in a variety of communities, including the classroom, school, anc3 district. The variety of professional development activities offered by the resource teachers refiectec3 many aspects of the NSES, including offering formal staff in-service, mentoring at gracle level, facilitating the development of school action plans, assisting teachers to prepare students for high-stakes testing, participating with teachers in other professional development activities anc3 then helping them reflect anc3 discuss implications for instructional practice, anc3 arranging teachers to visit anc3 observe each other's practice.
From page 74...
... As this review shows, if we strip away many of the latter pieces anc3 just consider empirical evidence that establishes a reasonable link between the NSES anc3 the professional development system, then the evidence of the influence of the NSES on the system of professional development is variable. Although the NSES have unquestionably influenced inservice professional development for large numbers of teachers, the evidence is unconvincing that there have been structural changes in either the policy system, the institutions of higher education that largely provide training to prospective teachers as they prepare to enter the profession, or the existing structures that provide large amounts of in-service training to teachers.
From page 75...
... Likewise, the Eisenhower evaluations anc3 SRI's cross-site SSI evaluation were exemplars of high-quality, thoughtful studies that proviclec3 substantial evidence of where anc3 why the NSES have anc3 have not influenced the different aspects of the professional development system. Aciclitionally, studies like Spillane's investigation of how policy makers' beliefs about learning influence their policy strategies provide fresh insight into the often superficial levels of unclerstancling of those leaclers charged with enacting the NSES anc3 the profound influence of local culture anc3 context on the implementation process.


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