Opinion
Professional Development Opinion

Closing the Teacher-Development Gap

By Jack Gillette — November 06, 2012 5 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Matt is finishing his third year as a 6th grade teacher in an urban K-8 school. He feels he has made good progress with his students despite their histories of poor performance. The school itself has typical challenges and stretched resources, leaving few dollars for teacher development. His induction mentor was great at showing him the basics, but Matt feels there is so much more he could do if he knew additional methods to build on his students’ assets and meet them where they are. Matt’s dilemma is not uncommon to many new educators.

Much attention has been focused of late on teacher-preparation programs and the ability of higher education institutions to prepare teachers for the challenges of today’s classrooms. While teacher-preparation standards have risen in most states, and more institutions provide clinically based programs, the task of teaching, especially teaching well to every student, takes both advanced support and practice. But once induction support is over, it is a rare school that continues to provide in-class coaching support, which is unfortunate for those educators wanting to grow their craft in order to be effective for every one of their students. Pressures for increased student outcomes are rising sharply, much faster than supports for teacher development. Spurred by the federal Race to the Top competition, student achievement is now a major consideration in the performance evaluations of a growing number of teachers, even as they face greater variance among their students.

Certainly, there are examples of districts that offer long-term, focused staff development that can significantly alter instructional practice, but the few that do are mostly driven by outside grant dollars that have their own timelines, often disconnected from the pace of teacher learning. Even rarer are professional-development efforts that invest in classroom coaching support, though research shows a direct correlation between coaching and the quality of instructional outcomes. Nevermind that coaching dollars are expensive, hard to get, and easily cut when times get tough.

Post-licensure higher education offerings—with or without advanced degrees or endorsements attached—are another option. But the record here is mixed, and the choices are still more often made on the basis of credential rewards than in-class instructional improvement. Many options clearly respond to what research points to as important (such as deeper content knowledge), but the burden of taking that new knowledge and putting it to work in a classroom falls entirely on the teacher-learner.

iStockphoto.com

What if higher education were to reinvent post-licensure programs to close this gap in development? What should be the major components of a developmentally supportive program? The research on effective teaching is beginning to provide us with some answers suggesting that such programs would need to include four key areas of knowledge-skill development and a way to support the actual classroom.

• Content mastery. Today’s teachers, especially K-6 teachers, need to have a deeper understanding of a variety of content areas to improve their practice. Research shows that additional content knowledge in math and literacy makes a significant difference in the classroom, but subject-matter understanding in science and English/language arts—with the new focus on higher-order thinking skills through nonfiction literature and arts integration—has become essential.

Pressures for increased student outcomes are rising sharply, much faster than supports for teacher development."

• The ability to assess each student against a learning target or standard that provides actionable feedback. While student assessment is increasingly emphasized in teacher-preparation programs, the ability to differentiate instruction requires fluency and effectiveness in assessing diverse individuals. It is hard, detailed work and best learned by repeated practice with an effective coach.

• The ability to create a culture of achievement that honors and builds on the diverse backgrounds of one’s students. This requires combining high expectations with strong supports and empathy for how individual students understand their learning environment. Higher expectations without understanding can push out students, while understanding without the high standards can undercut their capacities.

• A repertoire of instructional moves that are both subject-based and generic. Building on the skill sets mentioned above, the selection of instructional approaches should be focused around creating a specific learning progression that moves the student from where she or he is to proficiency. As a result, the classroom is unlikely to be organized around whole-group instruction; rather, it should be built around the cluster of variances students bring to any academic task.

The focus of this knowledge and skill-building needs to be with the students who matter most to Matt: his own. This flips the challenge often associated with taking courses while teaching: Rather than trying to escape the intensity of teaching in order to find time to think in an evening seminar classroom, the entire purpose of the learning in the seminar room ought to be to support the development of Matt’s daily work.

For Matt to get this kind of program of study, a higher education institution would have to think in dramatically new and innovative ways: for example, using new video technologies that allow higher education faculty members to stand shoulder to shoulder with their candidates inside real classrooms. Teachers could capture their instructional practice, edit an excerpt, and share it with supportive peers and faculty. Faculty members could then see a candidate’s ability to put new knowledge into action and have direct evidence of what their candidates both know and do. This immediacy would allow for joint accountability of both teacher and mentor. The development of clear competency targets would permit practitioners to focus their energies and assure improved instructional practice. From the beginning of a program, candidates could assess their own strengths, learn how to build on them, and fill in the gaps. Collecting student work would need to be a routine of practice, both guiding and disciplining what happens inside the classroom. Both faculty and candidates would be engaged in a cycle of acting, collecting data, and reflecting and improving such that concrete evidence of student learning develops. Uniting these elements is possible in order to create a new and invigorating approach to post-novice teacher development.

There are a lot of Matts out there, and their numbers are growing as more teachers find their evaluations tied to student outcomes. Reaching and teaching every student is hard work. How long do these teachers have to do it on their own?

A version of this article appeared in the November 07, 2012 edition of Education Week as Closing the Teacher-Development Gap

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Professional Development Opinion Teacher Collaboration Often Means Analyzing Student Data to Boost Learning. But Does It Work?
For this professional development to be effective, teachers need a blame-free, action-oriented protocol, writes a longtime data coach.
Ronald S. Thomas
5 min read
Image of 3 people looking at data, looking to impact outputs in positive ways.
z_wei/iStock/Getty and Education Week
Professional Development Coming Soon: PD Mega Event From ISTE/ASCD
Bringing the two events to the same venue is a huge step.
2 min read
Attendees walk around the expo hall, where technology companies showcase their products, at the 2022 International Society for Technology in Education conference in New Orleans on June 28.
Attendees walk around the expo hall where technology companies showcased their products at the International Society for Technology in Education conference in New Orleans on June 28, 2022.
Lauraine Langreo/Education Week
Professional Development From Our Research Center Teachers Desperately Need AI Training. How Many Are Getting It?
Teachers' lack of AI knowledge and support hinders their use of the technology.
2 min read
Illustration of AI and classroom tools.
Anna Frajtova/iStock/Getty
Professional Development Opinion Are Your Staff Meetings Unfocused and Disjointed? Try These 5 Strategies
Too often, staff meetings do not focus on learning, which is a lost opportunity. Here's how to make them more meaningful.
Michael Nelson & Peter DeWitt
6 min read
Screen Shot 2024 02 18 at 4.01.50 PM
Canva