NSF Educator-Training Effort Seen as Helpful

Gains in teaching skills for math and science were slow but steady.

As federal officials search for ways to upgrade the quality of math and science instruction, a study concludes that a large-scale venture to spread professional- development throughout entire districts had a positive effect on teaching those subjects.

The findings suggest that similarly ambitious teacher-training undertakings could also work—if sustained over time, its authors say. At the same time, the study also found that the gains were relatively small and came slowly, after extensive teacher training.

The report, “Lessons from a Decade of Mathematics and Science Reform,” scheduled to be released in Washington this week, is based on an evaluation of the Local Systemic Change Through Teacher Enhancement program, a major, federally financed professional-development effort. Now in its final stage, it has trained 70,000 teachers working with an estimated 2 million students, mostly at the K-8 level, since it...