Is experience the best teacher? A multilevel analysis of teacher characteristics and student achievement in low performing schools

The study investigated several teacher characteristics, with a focus on two measures of teaching experience, and their association with second grade student achievement gains in low performing, high poverty schools in a Mid-Atlantic state. Value-added models using three-level hierarchical linear modeling were used to analyze the data from 1,544 students, 154 teachers, and 53 schools. Results indicated that traditional teacher qualification characteristics such as licensing status and educational attainment were not statistically significant in producing student achievement gains. Total years of teaching experience was also not a significant predictor but a more specific measure, years of teaching experience at a particular grade level, was significantly associated with increased student reading achievement. We caution researchers and policymakers when interpreting results from studies that have used only a general measure of teacher experience as effects are possibly underestimated. Policy implications are discussed.

Developing the theory of formative assessment

Whilst many definitions of formative assessment have been offered, there is no clear rationale to define and delimit it within broader theories of pedagogy. This paper aims to offer such a rationale, within a framework which can also unify the diverse set of practices which have been described as formative. The analysis is used to relate formative assessment both to other pedagogic initiatives, notably cognitive acceleration and dynamic assessment, and to some of the existing literature on models of self-regulated learning and on classroom discourse. This framework should indicate potentially fruitful lines for further enquiry, whilst at the same time opening up new ways of helping teachers to implement formative practices more effectively.

Transformative learning through open listening: a professional development experience with urban high school teachers

This article relates how an English teacher in an urban high school described his efforts to listen and to perceive a seemingly disaffected student in his efforts to support her learning. He observed her responding to his efforts in positive and unexpected ways that involved her increased involvement in learning in his class. This teacher described how this student had presented many challenges to his teaching and how difficult attending to her overt anger and sullenness in his class was for him. However, by doing so, he said that his perceptions and understandings of her and subsequently, another student, shifted profoundly in ways that he believed helped him help these two students learn more meaningfully in his classes. This example of open listening on the part of a teacher toward his two students opened up new possibilities for learning for all three and may indicate a cycle of transformative listening which will be defined and discussed in this article. Stuart’s experiences in a professional development seminar, facilitated by the author, where teachers’ interpretive and evaluative ideas were listened to openly by colleagues and the facilitator may have influenced Stuart in his responses to his students. His involvement in this study group may have contributed to his learning to see his students in new, unique, and fuller ways, which he said he thought helped him help these students learn better in his classes.

Student performance and attitudes under formative evaluation by teacher,self and peer evaluators

This study investigated the effects of teacher, self and peer evaluation on preservice teachers’ performance, knowledge and attitudes. Earlier research by the same authors revealed that students made significant improvements in their lesson plans under all three of these conditions, but the teacher-evaluation improved significantly more than the two student-evaluation groups. Therefore, relevant training and practice in the evaluation process were added in this study. All three groups made significant improvements from draft to final version of their plans, and the differences between the teacher-evaluation group and the two student-evaluation groups were non-significant. The authors attribute the stronger performance of the student-evaluation groups to their training on the evaluation task. Students’ overall attitudes were significantly more positive toward teacher evaluation than toward peer evaluation, but did not differ significantly between these two groups and the self-evaluators. Several suggestions are discussed for further improvements in the training of self and peer evaluators.

Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessment: A Research-Based Pedagogy for Teaching Science with Classroom Response Technology

Classroom response systems (CRSs) are a promising instructional technology, but most literature on CRS use fails to distinguish between technology and pedagogy, to define and justify a pedagogical perspective, or to discriminate between pedagogies. Technology-enhanced formative assessment (TEFA) is our pedagogy for CRS-based science instruction, informed by experience and by several traditions of educational research. In TEFA, four principles enjoin the practice of question-driven instruction, dialogical discourse, formative assessment, and meta-level communication. These are enacted via the question cycle, an iterative pattern of CRS-based questioning that can serve multiple instructional needs. TEFA should improve CRS use and help teachers “bridge the gap” between educational research findings and practical, flexible classroom strategies for science instruction.

Progress towards EFA in Tanzania

Positive developments are identified, notably a strong policy and planning environment linked to overall strategy for growth and poverty reduction, leading to vigorous commitment to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Abolition of school fees, and a measure of compulsion, resulted in significant gains in school enrolment, including almost equal rates of enrolment for boys and girls since 2000. Poverty is mainly rural and the system struggles to supply education to very poor people. The needs of Tanzania’s sizeable number of children living with disability have been identified and policy is in place, but there is little provision as yet. In responding to HIV/AIDS, more action is essential. Increased enrolment rates have been blamed for a serious negative effect on quality. Modernized curriculum and pedagogy have been prescribed, but realization of these improvements will require a seismic shift in teacher training, support and the provision of education resources.

Providing Bottom-Up Support to Middle School Science Teachers’ Reform Efforts in Using Inquiry-Based Kits

Middle grades science teachers need professional support in practice as they implement new inquiry-based science. Professional development schools can provide this bottom-up support through connecting preservice and inservice teacher education programs in classroom practice. In this study, coteaching arrangements with secondary science education majors provided additional teachers in the classroom to support a materials-rich curriculum and the needed associated pedagogies. Science education majors provided needed assistance in troubleshooting difficulties with the new curriculum. They also provided needed content knowledge to support inquiry, along with creating moments and space for teachers to reflect on inquiry practice. Ongoing assistance by preservice teachers allowed inservice teachers to progress from logistical concerns in implementing kit curriculum to concerns regarding student learning and the supporting professional development.

Teachers’ Perspectives on a Professional Development Intervention to Improve Science Instruction Among English Language Learners

Our 5-year professional development intervention is designed to promote elementary teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices in teaching science, along with English language and mathematics for English Language Learning (ELL) students in urban schools. In this study, we used an end-of-year questionnaire as a primary data source to seek teachers’ perspectives on our intervention during the first year of implementation. Teachers believed that the intervention, including curriculum materials and teacher workshops, effectively promoted students’ science learning, along with English language development and mathematics learning. Teachers highlighted strengths and areas needing improvement in the intervention. Teachers’ perspectives have been incorporated into our on-going intervention efforts and offer insights into features of effective professional development initiatives in improving science achievement for all students.

Sustaining continued acceleration in reading comprehension achievement following an intervention

Schooling improvement initiatives have demonstrated that moderate but significant achievement gains are possible with well designed interventions, but there is little research into whether these gains can be sustained. The present study examines the extent to which acceleration in achievement made during a three-year literacy intervention and the associated school-based practices were continued. Statistical modelling showed continued acceleration in student achievement (four months in addition to expected progress) at a rate similar to the intervention. The school-based practices associated with sustainability were part of a process of change (rather than a specific instructional programme) comprising two dimensions — organisational learning through ongoing inquiry into solving problems arising from teaching and learning and the development of professional learning communities to promote organisational learning. Effectiveness was enhanced by schools embedding the process into their normal school routines as part of a coherent instructional programme and the availability of expertise.

Mathematical preparation of elementary teachers in China: changes and issues

It is generally perceived that Chinese elementary teachers have a profound understanding of the school mathematics they teach. This perception has led to further interest in understanding teacher education practices in China. As some dramatic changes in elementary teacher preparation have taken place in China over the past decade, this article aims to outline these changes with a focus on curriculum provided in the new 4-year bachelor preparation programs. Sample mathematics teacher educators in China were also surveyed to gather insiders’ views about teacher preparation practices and to identify relevant issues. We believe that elementary teacher preparation and its changes in China can provide an important case for mathematics teacher educators around the world to reflect on teacher education practices in their own systems.

Teachers’ emergent goals in spreadsheet-based lessons: analyzing the complexity of technology integration

We examine teachers’ classroom activities with the spreadsheet, focusing especially on episodes marked by improvisation and uncertainty. The framework is based on Saxe’s cultural approach to cognitive development. The study considers two teachers, one positively disposed towards classroom use of technology, and the other not, both of them experienced and in a context in which spreadsheet use was compulsory: a new curriculum in France for upper secondary non-scientific classes. The paper presents and contrasts the two teachers in view of Saxe’s parameters, and analyzes their activity in two similar lessons. Goals emerging in these lessons show how teachers deal with instrumented techniques and the milieu under the influence of cultural representations. The conclusion examines the contribution that the approach and the findings can bring to understanding technology integration in other contexts, especially teacher education.

Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions of Urban Schools

This study investigates pre-service teachers’ perceptions of urban schools. We asked 41 pre-service teachers, mostly white and female, to report their perceptions of four aspects of urban schools (appearance and atmosphere, resources, students, and teachers) and identify the sources of their perceptions. We analyze the data qualitatively to understand how they perceive urban schools and quantitatively to determine group trends in their perceptions. Findings reveal that their perceptions of urban schools are complex, with negative and positive impressions of selected aspects of urban schools. Implications of these findings for teacher education, in particular, urban field placements and curriculum, are explored.

Towards Treating Chemistry Teacher Candidates as Human

This research inquiry investigates the factors influencing chemistry teacher candidates’ development during their extended practica in the second and final year of an After-Degree Bachelor of Education at a university in central Canada. A variety of data sources are used to identify the risk and protective factors impeding and contributing to the achievement of their chemistry pedagogical aspirations. Two theoretical frameworks, both having their origins in the pioneering work of Kurt Lewin, are used to conceptualize how a complex amalgam of personal attribute and environmental factors and the interplay among these factors influence teacher candidate developmental trajectories. The tenets of both Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model and Learning Environment research provide insights into how the factors influencing teacher candidate development can be understood and systematically documented to provide a template for reflective consideration of the practicum experience for both teacher candidates and those involved in fostering the development of chemistry teacher candidates.

Kindergarten Children Discussing the Fairness of Probabilistic Games: The Creation of a Primary Discursive Community

In this paper we analyse the language used by kindergarten children and their teacher while they discuss the fairness of two games that involved the concept of chance. Their discussions show that the children are able to overcome their primary intuitions concerning the fairness of a game and to comprehend the important role of materials. The children mostly used counting strategies in order to justify their opinion; this reveals the establishment of a primary discursive community based on the premise that each opinion should be justified in order to be accepted by the other children and the teacher.

Educational Inequity from the Perspectives of Those Who Live It: Urban Middle School Students’ Perspectives on the Quality of their Education

In interviews with over 250 urban young adolescents, many students make it clear that they are acutely aware of the educational inequities that exist in their schools and that these inequities are having a negative impact on their education. Student voice is used to highlight urban middle school students’ perspectives on the quality of their education particularly in terms of curricular issues, teacher quality, and lack of resources.

Heuristic task analysis on e-learning course development: a formative research study

Utilizing heuristic task analysis (HTA), a method developed for eliciting, analyzing, and representing expertise in complex cognitive tasks, a formative research study was conducted on the task of e-learning course development to further improve the HTA process. Three instructional designers from three different post-secondary institutions in the U.S. were selected for interviews. The interviews focused on three e-learning course development cases (one from each institution), and the participants were asked to articulate their underlying thoughts and principles for designing e-learning courses. Overall, the HTA process worked well in the sense that the study could elicit procedural steps and sub-steps involved in e-learning course development and heuristic knowledge with which the instructional designers performed each step. On the surface, the e-learning course development processes that the instructional designers used looked more alike than different, entailing major steps such as meeting with faculty, developing content, monitoring courses in progress, and debriefing the instructor and students. The underlying principles and knowledge that guided each instructional designer through the processes, however, were unique in that each instructional designer constructed her own heuristics to accommodate the myriad contextual factors that arose in her work setting. The study also discussed the challenge of identifying the simplest yet most representative e-learning course development case with multiple experts and suggestions for further improving the HTA process were also presented.

Jong-Hsiang Yang: a major promoter of Taiwanese science education

This article reviews the work of Jong-Hsiang Yang in science education and his efforts in creating a research culture in Taiwan. Following in Yang’s footprints, the rebuilding of science education, implementing a new science curriculum, and gaining the academic status of science education, we go through the important years of the development of science education in Taiwan. His leadership in introducing interpretive research methods and expanding international studies catalyzed profound changes to science education research in Taiwan.

A Follow-up Study on Teacher Evaluation in China: Historical Analysis and Latest Trends

This research study follows up on previous investigations of the ongoing curriculum reform in China and its repercussions (actual and potential) on the effectiveness of the teacher evaluation process there (Liu & Teddlie, 2004, 2005). With the full implementation of the new curriculum reform throughout the country, teacher evaluation is becoming more and more important in today’s China. Practitioners are exploring new methods for making practical reforms in teacher evaluation in individual districts and schools. There are two sources of information for this article, which focuses on events that have transpired in China beginning in 2004: a content analysis of academic sources related to teacher evaluation and interviews conducted with Chinese teachers at different sites and grade levels. Six themes were derived from an analysis of the academic sources. Interview results focus on issues such as (1) the utilization of student test scores in the evaluation of teachers and (2) “teaching to the test.” The article ends with eight suggestions for improving practices currently associated with teacher evaluation in China.