In an era of increasingly rigorous state standards, teachers at all grade levels face heightened expectations to deepen their students’ understanding of mathematical concepts. This report examines the impact of content-intensive professional development on teachers’ math content knowledge, their instructional practice, and their students’ achievement. ...
Federal and local governments continue to invest billions of dollars each year in professional development for teachers. Until recently, there has been little rigorous evidence to inform the design and delivery of these programs. This brief outlines the key findings from three random assignment PD evaluation studies and proposes areas ...
Recent research suggests that intensive, content-focused professional development improves teachers’ knowledge and some aspects of their practice, but not student achievement. Kirk Walters sat down with Mike Garet, who led the research, and three other experts to get their reactions to these findings. ...
The recent increased attention to teacher evaluation has raised questions about the relationship between evaluation and student outcomes. This research and policy brief lays out an informal framework for using evaluation results to target professional growth opportunities for teachers within an aligned system of evaluation, leading to higher levels of ...
While a new report concludes that “most teachers do not appear to improve substantially from year to year," Jane Coggshall argues we should not conclude that we should throw out all teacher professional development because it’s a waste of money. What’s needed instead, she says, is a broad set of ...
This report, based on a national evaluation of the Eisenhower program, provides information about how the program is operating and how it might be strengthened. A second objective of this report is to contribute to knowledge about teacher professional development. The Eisenhower program is a source of funding for professional ...
The effort to link statistically student achievement to measures of teaching or teachers has proven very difficult. Analysts generally agree that the impacts of effective teachers on student achievement are important. The problem for analysts has been in identifying the characteristics of high quality teaching or teachers. ...
Rural educators in the Northeast Region are beginning to implement the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. For the implementation to be successful, teachers reported needing more time to collaborate and increased access to high-quality curricula and professional development opportunities.
When teachers learn, students learn. For decades, AIR has conducted studies of teacher professional learning and helped practitioners use evidence to develop, implement, test, and scale professional learning programs.
Despite large investments and efforts, schools and districts have long struggled to provide ongoing, effective, and sustained support for teachers’ professional development. This study examined the experiences of teachers in six schools participating in one of three teacher network programs during the 2016–17 school year. ...