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Proof Lacking on Success of Staff Development

Anecdotes about districts’ success stories with particular professional-development brands, services, and approaches are common in today’s marketplace. But is there proof that any of them actually work?

For the most part, the answer is no, according to scholars who have studied the link between postlicensure teacher training and student academic achievement. Reasons for that dearth of evidence include a general lack of rigor in education research, as well as specific obstacles that make studying professional development’s impact on student achievement a challenge.

Few studies of professional development employ scientifically rigorous methodologies. The research literature on the training, scholars say, is largely qualitative or descriptive, and therefore not capable of...