Speculations on teacher education: recommendations from research on teachers’ cognitions

This paper was written at the request of the Journal's editor, Professor Edgar Stones, who challenged us to translate a review of literature on teachers’ pedagogical thoughts, judgments, decisions and behavior (Shavelson and Stern, 1981) into recommendations for teacher education. We took up the challenge with some trepidation, knowing full well the pitfalls we faced in translating research into recommendations for practice. We approach our task cautiously by first discussing the assumptions underlying research on teachers’ thinking and decisions. Then, we summarize methods and findings from research on planning of instruction, judgments and decisions during recitation, and the link between decisions and behavior because they imply changes in typical teacher education programs. Finally, recommendations are made for teacher education.

We recommend that teacher educators consider adopting the decision‐making schema as a conceptual framework for organizing their programs. Such a schema implies a ‘reasonable’, professional process of making important decisions, such as selecting textbooks, grouping students, pacing work, sequencing and timing content, and changing routines during interaction. It also suggests a close correspondence between the two major components of teacher education, the foundations courses and student teaching.

Finally, we recommend that certain research methods such as process tracing, policy capturing, and stimulated recall be adapted as instructional techniques to improve the quality of instruction within foundations courses, and during supervision and feedback within the student‐teaching experience.     

An interdisciplinary training model for early childhood handicapped teachers

Abstract

Clinical supervision is a formative evaluation method of working with teachers for the purpose of improving instruction. This teacher‐centered, collegial, and collaborative model requires the establishment of rapport and trust and a proper climate. Personal observation and a review of current related literature emphasize that clinical supervision enables teachers and supervisors to grow while promoting excellence in teaching and learning. In this period of school reform, clinical supervision is a successful means of approaching teacher learning, professional growth, and instructional improvement.     

Pointing teachers in the wrong direction: understanding Louisiana elementary teachers’ use of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Compass</Emphasis> high-stakes teacher evaluation data

Spurred by Race to the Top, efforts to improve teacher evaluation systems have provided states with an opportunity to get teacher evaluation right. Despite the fact that a core reform area of Race to the Top was the use of teacher evaluation to provide on-going and meaningful feedback for instructional decision making, we still know relatively little about how states’ responses in this area have led to changes in teachers’ use of these sources of data for instructional improvement. Self-determination theory (SDT) and the concept of functional significance was utilized as a lens for understanding and explaining patterns of use (or non-use) of Compass-generated evaluation data by teachers over a period of 3 years in a diverse sample of Louisiana elementary schools. The analysis revealed that the majority of teachers exhibited either controlled or amotivated functional orientations to Compass-generated information, and this resulted in low or superficial use for improvement. Perceptions of the validity/utility of teacher evaluation data were critical determinants of use and were multifaceted: In some cases, teachers had concerns about how state and district assessments would harm vulnerable students, while some questioned the credibility and/or fairness of the feedback. These perceptions were compounded by (a) the lack of experience of evaluators in evaluating teachers with more specialized roles in the school, such as special education teachers; (b) a lack of support in terms of training on Compass and its processes; and (c) lack of teacher autonomy in selecting appropriate assessments and targets for Student Learning Target growth.     

Validity Evidence Supporting Use of Anchoring Vignettes to Measure Teaching Practice

High-quality measures of instructional practice are essential for research and evaluation of innovative instructional policies and programs. However, existing measures have generally proven inadequate because of cost and validity issues. This paper addresses two potential drawbacks of survey self-report measures: variation in teachers’ interpretation of response scales and their interpretation of survey questions. To address these drawbacks, researchers tested out use of “anchoring vignettes“ in teacher surveys to capture information about teaching practice, and they gathered validity evidence in regard to their use as a tool for adjusting teachers’ survey self-reports about their instructional practices for research purposes, or potentially to inform professional development. Data from 65 teachers in grades 4-9 responding to our survey suggested that vignette adjustments were reliable and valid for some instructional practices more than others. For some instructional practices, researchers found significant and high correlations between teachers’ adjusted survey self-rating, through use of anchoring vignettes, and previous observation ratings of teachers’ instruction, including ratings from several widely-used observation rubrics. These results suggest that anchoring vignettes may provide an efficient, cost-effective method for gathering data on teachers’ instruction.     

The teaching of the philosophy of science in secondary classrooms: case studies of teachers’ personal theories

This study examines teachers’ philosophies of science and describes how these philosophies influence their classroom instruction. Three science teachers with very diverse views of science were interviewed and observed in their classrooms for several months. These teachers’ philosophies were found to influence laboratory instruction, the manner in which demonstrations were used, the teaching of evolution, science‐technology‐society (STS) instruction, word usage, and instructional goals. The findings are relevant to issues in teacher education as well as the institutional environment of teaching.     

Understanding science teaching effectiveness: examining how science-specific and generic instructional practices relate to student achievement in secondary science classrooms

ABSTRACT

In order to create conditions for students’ meaningful and rigorous intellectual engagement in science classrooms, it is critically important to help science teachers learn which strategies and approaches can be used best to develop students’ scientific literacy. Better understanding how science teachers’ instructional practices relate to student achievement can provide teachers with beneficial information about how to best engage their students in meaningful science learning. To address this need, this study examined the instructional practices that 99 secondary biology teachers used in their classrooms and employed regression to determine which instructional practices are predictive of students’ science achievement. Results revealed that the secondary science teachers who had well-managed classroom environments and who provided opportunities for their students to engage in student-directed investigation-related experiences were more likely to have increased student outcomes, as determined by teachers’ value-added measures. These findings suggest that attending to both generic and subject-specific aspects of science teachers’ instructional practice is important for understanding the underlying mechanisms that result in more effective science instruction in secondary classrooms. Implications about the use of these observational measures within teacher evaluation systems are discussed.     

The Future of Instructional Teacher Leader Roles

In response to increased performance expectations, schools and districts are turning to nonsupervisory, school-based, instructional teacher leader roles to help improve teachers’ instruction and enhance student learning. Increased opportunities to learn about teacher leadership may facilitate the implementation and institutionalization of instructional teacher leader roles. We discuss how institutions of higher education could develop programs for instructional teacher leaders, provide related coursework to school administrators and preservice teachers, and educate school communities about the potential usefulness of these roles.     

A Conceptual Framework for Assessment Literacy: Opportunities for Physical Education Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

Although more nuanced understandings of assessment have been proposed in the physical education literature, assessment practices remain relatively underdeveloped, and when used, tend to focus on traditional, summative evaluations of learning. However, physical education teacher education programs can be used as an intervention to help pre-service teachers develop assessment knowledge and skill. Toward this end, the purpose of this article is to propose an evidence-based framework for helping pre-service teachers develop assessment literacy that is rooted in occupational socialization theory. The framework provides a four-phase approach to integrating assessment into teacher education, and includes suggestions for how physical education teacher educators can progressively help build pre-service teachers’ assessment knowledge in line with the focus given to instruction and planning. These suggestions acknowledge the technical and sociocultural aspects of learning to use assessment. Implications are discussed along with the need to help graduating pre-service teachers transfer lessons learned into the workplace.     

Teacher Agency in Social-Justice Aspirations and Inquiry-Based Science Instruction

Inquiry-based science instruction (IBSI) has the potential to contribute to social justice through widening participation and success in science. However, teachers struggle to implement IBSI because of contextual factors. The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of agency as a framework for understanding teachers’ decision-making, by asking the question: what was the agency of six science teachers in their social-justice aspirations and use of IBSI? An agency framework recognizes that teachers’ decisions are informed by their internal conversations at the intersection of personal aspects (their history, repertoire, and aspirations) with the cultural and structural constraints and resources of their contexts. However, research on IBSI has focussed on teachers’ personal aspects or their perceptions of contextual factors. The sample had learnt IBSI through service learning in the context of a science fair. From teacher interviews, it emerged that these teachers had strong social-justice aspirations to serve disadvantaged students. The teachers linked their social-justice aspirations to their choice of school rather than their use of IBSI. The teachers at better-resourced schools initiated participation in science fairs at their schools, whilst the rest judged that science fairs were not appropriate for their students. The results suggest that, rather than prescribing particular pedagogies, teacher education programmes should aim to increase teachers’ pedagogical repertoires, in order to enrich their agency in whatever contexts they teach.

     

Transformational change in instruction with professional learning communities? The influence of teacher cultural disposition in high power distance contexts

This mixed-methods study employed Hargreaves and Fullan’s (Professional capital: transforming teaching in every school, Teachers College Press, New York, 2012) concept of professional capital to re-examine whether professional learning communities (PLCs) transformed instructional practices in contexts that endorse hierarchical cultures. PLCs that facilitate transformational change in instructional practices empower teachers to embrace ambiguity, conflict, and risk to improve both student and teacher development. In contrast, PLCs that disseminate instructions for implementation produce reifying change. The findings illustrated that, in Singapore’s hierarchical cultural context, teachers participating in PLCs with high professional capital demonstrated transformational practice. These PLCs differed from most others in teacher cultural disposition toward uncertainty, unequal relationships, and risk. The findings imply that PLCs have the potential to support transformational change in practice, even when the cultural context endorses hierarchical relationships. However, this potential is moderated by the teacher cultural dispositions that prevail in PLCs. PLCs that possessed medium professional capital were the majority, demonstrating efforts to reify instructional change. Low professional capital PLCs also differed in teacher cultural disposition from the middle majority, but demonstrated neither the transformational practices of high professional capital PLCs, nor the reifying practices of medium professional capital PLCs. Recommendations are given in this paper to PLCs situated in similar hierarchical cultures on the types of adjustments required to support transformational change in practice.     

Improving Outcomes for English Language Learners by Integrating Social Studies and Literacy with OCDE Project GLAD Strategies

ABSTRACT

Elementary teachers are challenged to maximize instructional time to cover standards in all content areas and to meet a wide variety of student needs including students who are not proficient in English. This action research looks at how one fourth-grade teacher improved achievement for English Language Learners by integrating social studies into the literacy block using a Project GLAD® unit and the school district Literacy Comprehension Frameworks. It describes the changes to the literacy instruction and examines the benefits to students, families, the teacher, and the school.     

Teaching for Social Justice: the Promise of Transformative Expectations for Urban Chicanx/Latinx Youth

Drawing on the concept of transformative expectations—that is, the instructional practices that demonstrate teachers’ belief systems for the educational justice and empowerment of Chicanx/Latinx youth—this qualitative study explored the expectancy effects of nine classroom teachers with social justice commitments in a school district in California. Through semi-structured interviews, teacher journaling, and artifacts of classroom practices, this study points to the importance of teacher disposition and socialization in developing classroom expectations, as well as helps to conceptualize the expectancies of academic rigor, social capital, empowering curriculum, and teacher caring from perspectives of justice and their importance in supporting students to meet or exceed instructional goals. Applying figured worlds and transformative expectations as the study’s analytic frameworks, teachers reported these four expectancies as important strategies for bringing social justice into the classroom, thereby prompting discussions of the future directions of teaching for social justice.     

Self-Appraisal of Advanced Degree Candidates

Abstract

This study examined the influence of the incorporation of set induction into teacher’s instructional strategies upon pupil achievement and pupil perception of teacher effectiveness. One hundred and eighty ninth-grade pupils were randomly divided into eighteen groups of ten each. Eighteen pre-service teachers were assigned to these groups. One half of this teacher population was given instruction in the skill of incorporation of set induction in their instructional strategies and one half served as a control group. Data was gathered by administering pre-post test in achievement and Teacher Demonstration Rating Forms and was analyzed by an analysis of variance. The results supported previous research in the area of teacher effectiveness and indicated that set induction is an important variable in the determination of student achievement.     

Teachers and content area reading: Attitudes,beliefs and change

“Sometimes the teacher will say, ‘Read to the bottom of the page,’ and I try but I fall behind. Then she asks questions and a whole bunch of kids can answer the questions but I can’t. I try to keep up with everything but it's really hard. Sarah; 6th grade social studies student”.

This paper presents the results of a review of the research into content area teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about the teaching of reading within their subject area(s). As exemplified in the quote above, the ability to read and learn from text written to provide information can be difficult and frustrating for students who lack the skills. Content area teachers have been encouraged for decades to incorporate reading into their area of instruction, but have often chosen not to do this for a variety of reasons. In addition, teacher educators have attempted to work with content area teachers to help them consider how to incorporate reading instruction into their classroom.This paper takes a closer look at the reasons that motivate pre- and in-service content area teachers in grades 6–12 to either teach or not teach reading. It also examines the ways in which teacher educators have worked to help content area teachers learn how to teach reading and the degree to which these interventions have been successful. In doing so I argue that (a) our approaches to working with content area teachers on this topic have been limited and (b) simply creating positive attitudes towards teaching reading is not necessarily enough.This paper begins with a brief discussion of what it means to teach reading in the content areas. Next I present a general introduction to teacher beliefs and how they may influence the instructional decisions teachers make. Then I discuss the methodology for my review. This is followed by the results of my review with implications for how teacher educators might consider addressing this issue in the future.     

The development of elementary teacher identities as teachers of science

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the contributions of pre-service teachers’ memories of science and science education, combined with their experiences in a STEM-focused teacher preparation programme, to their developing identities as elementary school teachers of science. Data collected over three years include a series of interviews and observations of science teaching during elementary teacher preparation and the first year of teaching. Grounded within a theoretical framework of identity and using a case-study research design, we examined experiences that contributed to the participants’ identity development, focusing on key themes from teacher interviews: memories of science and science instruction, STEM-focused teacher preparation programme, field experiences, first year of teaching, and views of effective science instruction. Findings indicate the importance of exposure to reform strategies during teacher preparation and are summarised in main assertions and discussed along with implications for teacher preparation and research.     

A REPLY Listening to How You're Heard: On translations,mistranslations, and really bad mistranslations

This study explored the use of video cases to teach literacy instruction to special education pre‐service teachers. One class of pre‐service teachers was examined for knowledge gains and attitudes towards video cases as an instructional medium. Results suggest that video cases did not result in greater learning of phonemic awareness or reading comprehension topics than traditional lectures with discussion teaching. They also provided comparative data on student teachers’ responses to video versus traditional face‐to‐face instruction. Further implications for special education teacher preparation and future research directions are discussed.     

Emotion in online college classrooms: examining the influence of perceived teacher communication behaviour on students’ emotional experiences

This research focused on teacher communication behaviour as an influential factor in students’ educational experiences. This study examined students’ perceptions of emotion (involving teachers’ emotional support, students’ emotional work and students’ positive emotional valence toward class and teacher) as influenced by a variety of predicting variables: perceptions of teacher affinity-seeking as well as teachers’ positive behaviour alteration techniques, verbal immediacy and teacher online presence (involving the three factors of instructional design, organisation facilitating discourse and direct instruction). Relying on survey data collected from undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines enrolled in course offerings at a large public university, quantitative analysis examined relationships among existing factors previously studied in educational and communication research. Although this study uncovered multiple significant relationships between variables in the data set, students’ perceptions of their teachers’ verbal immediacy and presence in their instructional design were found to be most predictive relative to students’ emotions in online classrooms. Ultimately this project addresses and emphasises the need to more fully examine students’ emotions and related social experiences with virtual teachers and course content in higher education.     

Is teacher knowledge associated with performance? On the relationship between teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge and instructional quality

Researchers have identified general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) as a relevant category of teacher knowledge. However, hardly any study has examined the relationship between GPK of teachers and the instructional quality delivered to their students. This article therefore investigates the relationship between teachers’ GPK assessed via a standardised paper–pencil test and the quality of their instruction rated by their students. A sample of 246 in-service teachers at vocational schools in Austria is used. Teachers’ GPK positively correlates with students’ perceptions of effective classroom management, generic teaching methods/teacher clarity and teacher–student relationships. Regression analysis shows that GPK is a significant predictor for instructional quality even when controlled for teacher education grades, teacher personality (Big-Five) and teaching experience. Implications of teachers’ GPK as a resource for their teaching, limitations of the study and perspectives for future research are discussed.     

Effects of a Pre‐service Teacher Preparation Programme on Effective Instruction

A quasi‐experimental, treatment‐control group investigation was designed to test the effects of a pre‐service training course on effective instruction. Research findings from teacher effects research and cognitive strategy instruction were translated into two direct instructional models: one model for explicit or well‐structured skills and one model for implicit skills or higher‐level thinking strategies. Following a course on effective instruction from their teacher educators, student teachers implemented standardised lessons to apply selected research‐derived teaching behaviours and to increase pupil engagement rates. Based on trained observers’ pre‐and post‐training classroom observations, a significant treatment effect was found for student teachers’ teaching behaviours regarding effective instruction and for pupil engagement rates. Ratings from supervising teachers also showed that the student teachers who participated in the course on effective instruction used the recommended instructional skills after completion of the course significantly better than prior to the course.