Responses of First-Year Participants in a Middle School Professional Development Schools Partnership

Abstract

The sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction of university and public school participants in a middle school Professional Development Schools (PDS) partnership were investigated. Of the 86 participants in 12 collaborative inquiry partnership groups, 66 completed a 22-item questionnaire at the end of their 1st year of PDS participation. Results indicated that satisfaction appeared to outweigh dissatisfaction and that members of co-led (a university and a school leader) groups were more satisfied with group leadership and with the PDS experience overall than were members of singly led groups. A number of sources of satisfaction and barriers to satisfaction were identified. Implications of the results for the long-term viability of the PDS model are discussed.     

Orienting Schools Toward Equity: Subgroup Accountability Pressure and School-Level Responses

Abstract

This article examines school-level responses to subgroup accountability pressure through an ethnographic case study of a school cited for failing to make adequate yearly progress for student subgroups. Concerns about the calculations and measures used to derive the citation and reservations about acting on accountability data delegitimized the citation and rendered the identified subgroups irrelevant to daily practice. Under district guidance, compliance with subgroup accountability was independent of the school's internal efforts to promote equity.     

伙伴合作:教师专业发展的坚实路基

近年来,学校、教育主管部门、各级师资培训机构都在倡导教师的专业发展,社会各界对此也给予热切的期盼.我们知道,在现代社会各专业领域里,如医师、建筑师、工程师,不断地改进是其专业具有长久生命力的关键.同理,教师倘若要永续其专业的价值,那也得多点改进的工作,才能在专业发展之路上不断地跟进、迈进!     

以城带乡 城乡联动 促进教师专业发展

教育均衡的重点在农村,关键在教师。充分利用校本研修、城乡支教和浙江省农村中小学教师"领雁工程"等工作载体,以城带乡,城乡联动,精心打造教师队伍和教师专业发展,努力引领着教师走向卓越,是积极推进素质教育,有效促进农村教育和谐发展的必由之路。     

Early Childhood Teachers at the Center: A Qualitative Case Study of Professional Development in an Urban District

Professional development for early childhood educators (ECE PD) is an essential component of supporting a professional early childhood workforce. Yet research on ECE PD frequently centers on narrow fidelity data, while teachers’ individual voices and teaching contexts are only rarely considered in order to understand teacher experiences with PD initiatives. This qualitative case study utilizes the critical ecology of the early childhood profession framework (Miller et al., Early childhood grows up: Towards a critical ecology of the profession, Springer, London) to examine process-related questions in a large urban district’s PD initiative connected with the launch of a new district-developed kindergarten curriculum. Examining teacher experiences through an ecological lens, the study focuses on two kindergarten teachers, viewing them as active agents in their own professional learning and situating them within their particular teaching contexts. Data sources included classroom observations, teacher interviews, and curriculum fidelity data. Although fidelity data provided some information about teacher responses to the PD, triangulating this data with teacher accounts of adapting the curriculum to their particular context enabled more nuanced understandings about how teachers adapt information from PD sessions to their particular teaching contexts. This study demonstrates the need for research on ECE PD to go beyond fidelity data to explore process-related questions about teachers PD experiences.     

Partnership as an Intervention Strategy in Self-Managing Schools

The alternatives of taking over failing schools or handing over resources for them to develop their own improvement strategies are recognized as ineffective in achieving improvement. When deciding how best to intervene in 26 self-managing schools, the Ministry of Education in New Zealand attempted to avoid the negative consequences of these alternatives by developing a partnership with the schools and their communities. This article documents both the difficulties experienced in the first intervention phase, dominated by concerns about respecting the schools’ autonomy, and the successes of the second phase, when the Ministry was more explicit about the school improvement tasks.     

Multilevel Boundary Crossing in a Professional Development School Partnership

This study aims to understand the recurrent challenges of professional development school (PDS) partnerships experienced by many countries. It does so by conceptualizing PDS partnerships as endeavors to cross institutionally and epistemologically developed boundaries between teacher education, schooling, and academic research. After introducing what we call a multilevel boundary crossing approach, we look at the startup years of one academic PDS partnership, scrutinizing the successive learning mechanisms that were evoked at the institutional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal levels. The case study narrative illustrates the multilevel nature of boundary crossing and reveals different learning mechanisms in different phases and at different levels. For example, whereas coordination initially occurred at all levels, transformation occurred in later years mainly at the intrapersonal level. The study sheds specific light on the intrapersonal level by showing the significant and challenging role of various brokers in establishing both horizontal and vertical connections across and within the organizations involved. Despite being important leaders of the partnerships’ activities, we observed how brokers prevented others from becoming more involved. We propose that partnerships should carefully consider the sort of learning processes they aspire to and can realistically expect at different levels and moments in time and accordingly consider how they want to position the various actors.     

Toward Social Justice in Urban Education: A Model of Collaborative Cultural Inquiry in Urban Schools

The increasing racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity among the populations attending urban schools poses a significant challenge to providing quality public education. Similarly, few would dispute that, in order to meet this challenge effectively, teachers must acquire the cultural competency for creating productive and inclusive learning environments, building academic capability among all students, and forging solid relationships with students' families and communities. Though this view has become an “official doctrine” among teacher educators, developing cultural competence in actual contexts consisting of urban schools and classrooms has proven a difficult challenge. This article explains a design for this work called Circles of Co-Practice as a system of practice and inquiry to develop cultural competency in partnership activity. The system design and application to the work of urban school-university-neighborhood collaboratives to improve urban education is illustrated with two case instances.     

美国专业发展学校的成效及问题

作为一种新的教师教育模式,美国专业发展学校在其发展过程中取得了多方面的成效:如改善了教师的职前教育、促进了在职教师的专业发展、促进了合作研究、改善了中小学学生的学习状况等,从而推动了美国教师教育的发展。但是,美国专业发展学校在其发展过程中也面临一定的问题,如传统观念和既往经历的阻碍、资源问题、组织机构问题以及关系问题等。本文旨在分析其成效及问题,以对我国正在兴起的教师发展学校提供一些参考和启示。     

Professional Culture and Professional Development in Jewish Schools: Teachers' Perceptions and Experiences

In this article, we report a study of professional culture and professional development in Jewish schools based on surveys of teachers and other staff and interviews with principals. We first introduce three key constructs: professional culture, professional development, and professional learning communities. We then describe research that has identified features of each that support teacher learning. With this background in mind, we compare the current realities in Jewish schools as gleaned through the survey with typical public schools and with the features of schools identified in the literature as supportive of teacher learning and collegiality. Finally, we suggest the next steps that might be taken to improve Jewish schools as settings in which teacher growth and learning flourish.     

院校协作式校本课程开发与教师专业化——以香港小学常识科科学探究课为例

上世纪90年代以来,香港一直致力于教学改善。教学改善以学生的发展为终极目标,这对教帅工作的专业化提出了更高的要求。教师唯有主动地在教育实践中产生一定的有创新意义的活动,才能更好地把握教育变革的脉搏。伙伴合作式校本课程开发的主旨在于通过大学研究员与教师合作,双方共同经历思考-行动-反思的过程,以促进教师专业自主性的方式优化教学。     

Revisiting Technology Integration in Schools: Implications for Professional Development

As the technology infrastructure of schools expands, a common concern has been the underutilization of computers and other technologies in the classroom. Teachers are often blamed for failing to integrate technology into their teaching, giving such reasons as lack of time, training, equipment, and support. However, it has been suggested that these are not the “real” reasons technology is underutilized; instead, it is argued that teachers’ core values about teaching and learning are the primary obstacles to successful technology integration (e.g., Cuban, 2001 Cuban, L. 2001. Oversold and underused: Computers in the classroom, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.  [Google Scholar]). Implications for professional development are addressed in relation to these barriers to classroom technology use and the developmental pattern of teachers’ technology integration.     

Toward Teacher Development for the Urban in Urban Teaching

This article examines the potential of critical teacher inquiry groups to promote urban teacher retention, professional support and development. While much has been written in recent years about teacher inquiry, generally, little attention has been paid to professional development programs that highlight a critical analysis of urban schooling. Drawing on analysis of videos of group meetings, Email conversations with participants and informal interviews, this article concerns itself with a group of seven South Central Los Angeles elementary teachers that use critical inquiry to support each other in tackling multiple forms of inequality and oppression manifest in their classrooms, school and community. Brought together by a commitment to social justice, these teachers engage a set of shared readings in social and educational theory as the foundation for bi‐monthly meetings. The article concludes with recommendations for on‐going critical professional development models that support teachers as they confront the challenges of urban schools.     

政策过程分析:自主招生公平问题的内在机理探讨

本文运用政策科学的过程分析框架,从政策制定、政策执行、政策评估与监控三大方面,结合当前自主招生公平问题,对自主招生政策进行了系统分析.研究表明:自主招生公平问题隐藏于政策本身和政策环境中.目前我国自主招生所面临的公平质疑,既可能是政策设计的某些缺陷所导致的必然结果,也可能是由于政策适切性差、执行走样、评估和监控不完善等原因导致的偶然结果.     

美国专业发展学校中的"合作问题"

兴起于20世纪80年代的专业发展学校已经成为美国教师教育改革的一大趋势.在专业发展学校的创建和发展中,中小学和大学的合作是一个核心理念.本文介绍了伊丽莎白·赫斯·赖斯等对美国专业发展学校中的合作问题的研究分析.     

Professional Development for Teacher Leaders Special Issue: Partnering for Equity

The Colorado Partnership for Educational Renewal has created a professional development opportunity for teachers who are skilled in and committed to teaching for equity and diversity. Participants discuss benefits of their participation, especially valuing the support that crosses district and age-level boundaries.     

大学—区域伙伴合作促进教师专业发展的理论基础

构建大学—区域伙伴合作关系,促进教师专业发展,有其内在的理论基础。从教师专业发展层面来看,作为社会生态转变的教师专业发展观植根于社会建构主义学习理论,强调教师专业发展的社会脉络和实践反思,对构建大学—区域伙伴合作关系提出了内在要求;从组织层面的多元主体合作来看,系统理论和资源依附理论为我们深入理解大学—区域伙伴合作关系构建提供了系统与资源协同的理论支持;从个体层面的交往互动来看,对话理论和交往行动理论为我们理解教师主体能动性提供了有益启示;从大学—区域伙伴合作的"共生关系"属性来看,从社会交换理论走向共生哲学理论,以建构文化融合视域下的伙伴合作关系。