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Currently Skimming:

7 Opportunities for Teacher Learning in the Workplace
Pages 159-184

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From page 159...
... , planning time, and social relationships on teacher satisfaction and intent to remain teaching at 159
From page 160...
... , these same three elements -- collegial relationships, principal's leadership, and school culture -- were also most strongly related to growth in student achievement at the school level, including when comparing schools serving similar student populations. As a second example, in a study employing a large administrative data set spanning 10 years from Charlotte-Mecklenberg Schools, Kraft and Papay (2014)
From page 161...
... . JOB-EMBEDDED PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WORKPLACE This chapter begins by highlighting three strategic investments that school and system leaders have made in recent decades to strengthen the knowledge, skill, and professional identity of teachers: systems of induction and mentoring for beginning teachers, opportunities for teachers to learn from and with colleagues, and the development of instructional coaching roles, relationships, and practices.
From page 162...
... In the 2011–2012 SASS, comparable percentages of elementary and secondary teachers reported receiving similar first-year supports, with one 1 An induction program was defined on the 2011–2012 SASS as "a program for beginning teachers that may include teacher orientation, mentoring, coaching, demonstrations, and/or assessments aimed at enhancing teachers' effectiveness" (p.
From page 163...
... Teachers' reports about first-year supports varied slightly in relation to their school setting (see Table 7-1) : fewer teachers in rural settings reported receiving common planning time with their same-subject teachers, as compared to teachers in a city, setting, or town setting.
From page 164...
... However, there has been little research on how the content or quality of induction supports impacts teacher migration and attrition and about the impact of supports on other outcomes, such as the quality of teaching or student learning. Moreover, whereas Ronfeldt and McQueen's findings suggest that Black teachers receive significantly more extensive supports than their colleagues, little is known about the impact of the quality or quantity of supports on Black teachers or other teachers of color.
From page 165...
... However, a multiyear study of Chicago elementary schools identified "professional capacity"3 as one of five essential elements that accounted for improvements in student achievement and attendance patterns (Bryk et al., 2010)
From page 166...
... In that survey, between 55–68 percent of secondary teachers, as compared to 43–53 percent of elementary teachers, indicated they participated in teacher collaborative time in the past 3 years (Banilower et al., 2018, p.
From page 167...
... . They argue that a key marker of productive teacher collaborative time is the opportunity to discuss not only how to adapt an idea relative to one's context, but also why a particular practice or adaptation makes sense.
From page 168...
... Yet qualitative studies, both large and small scale, indicate that it is rare that the focus, facilitation, and structure of teacher collaborative time in most U.S. schools support
From page 169...
... Findings from the Middle School Mathematics and the Institutional Study of Teaching (MIST) study are especially illustrative of the challenges districts and schools face in organizing and implementing teacher collaborative time that supports substantial teacher learning (Horn, Kane, and Garner, 2018)
From page 170...
... . . . we found that effective teacher collaboration that had the potential to support teachers' development of ambitious and equitable instructional practices happened relatively infrequently in our partner districts" (p.
From page 171...
... Teachers were initially provided with time to collaborate with colleagues and coaches, as well as districtwide PD; however, these supports were reduced by the third year. Teachers' social networks reflected these changes; social networks initially expanded as teachers were provided increasing time to collaborate with colleagues, including those outside their own schools, and then networks contracted as that collaboration time was removed.
From page 172...
... A recent meta-analysis demonstrates the potential of instructional coaching to yield improvements in teachers' instructional practice and in students' measured achievement. Kraft, Blazar, and Hogan (2018)
From page 173...
... . Each of the arrangements highlighted above -- induction support and mentoring for new teachers, time and structures for teacher collaboration, and instructional coaching -- may supply teachers with opportunities to meet heightened expectations for "deeper learning" and for working successfully with a diverse population of students (as described in Chapter 3)
From page 174...
... Without denying the importance of teachers' knowledge, skill, and judgment, Johnson argues that relying primarily on individual teacher qualities will prove insufficient to support effective teaching, deepen teacher commitment, or stimulate and sustain school improvement. Each of the book's eight chapters illuminates the contrasts between an individualistic perspective and a collective perspective on selected levers on teacher quality (including teacher collaboration, teacher leadership, and teacher evaluation)
From page 175...
... Over the course of two decades, teachers were aided by a succession of skilled department leaders, intensive teacher collaboration focused on student learning, collective participation in Stanford's Complex Instruction program of PD, and participation in various reform-oriented mathematics teacher networks. These conditions enabled a series of progressive accomplishments, which were the focus of complementary sets of studies at Stanford and Berkeley, reported in a series of published works (among them, Boaler and Staples, 2008; Horn, 2005; Nasir et al., 2014)
From page 176...
... write, "It is a relatively recent development within studies of teacher networks to consider simultaneously the effects of formal professional development and collegial interactions" (p.
From page 177...
... In some cases, the spillover effects on the improvement of instructional practices were almost equal to the direct effects of teachers' participation in professional development.
From page 178...
... Both districts introduced instructional coaching to promote teachers' use of new curricula and instructional practices but contrasted in the degree to which they systematically prepared and supported coaches in doing that work. Coaches were more effective and teacher networks more firmly established where the district invested in the professional development of the coaches themselves.
From page 179...
... However, decades of research on the school workplace confirms that schools vary widely in the tenor of the workplace culture, the vision and skill of school leadership, the availability of high-quality PD, the norms and routines that mark teachers' professional relationships, and the systems that provide structure and guidance for teachers' work with students. Empirical research on the three specific strategic interventions of induction and mentoring, collaborative time, and instructional coaching has yielded mixed results, suggesting that a fruitful question is under what conditions each of these interventions proves effective in retaining teachers, stimulating instructional improvement, and boosting student learning.
From page 180...
... . Understanding teachers' self-sustaining, generative change in the context of professional development.
From page 181...
... . Characteristics of teacher induction programs and turn over rates of beginning teachers.
From page 182...
... . District policy choices and local professional development opportunities.
From page 183...
... . Teacher Professional Development by Selected Teacher and School Characteristics: 2011–2102.


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