Teacher professional development represents a strategic tool in schools’ efforts to increase their capacities and improve student achievement. “Education leaders understand that improving teachers’ instruction is the most direct way to support student learning,” said Dr. Richard Hezel, president of Hezel Associates. “That is why the United States invests more than $21 billion each year in K-12 professional development. Our research helps shed light on how to strengthen the planning, implementation, and outcomes of teacher professional development at all levels.”
Establishing the link between teacher professional development, teacher classroom instruction, and student outcomes requires an analysis of complex data, including school district context, instructional practice, teachers’ beliefs and attitudes, curriculum, and student cognition. This is not a straightforward task. Knowing Hezel Associates’ unparalleled ability to undertake complicated research projects, the U.S. Department of Education asked Hezel Associates to examine the effectiveness of the teacher professional development courses developed by PBS TeacherLine.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Ready to Teach Program, PBS TeacherLine offers more than 90 facilitated online professional development courses in mathematics, language arts, reading, and technology. The six-week, 30-hour courses provide K-12 teachers with access to high-quality online professional development.
Conducted over a three-year period, Hezel Associates’ research focused on the quality of PBS TeacherLine’s courses, on the impact of facilitation, and on critical learning outcomes.
A cornerstone of Hezel Associates’ research was a study that employed a “Gold Standard” experimental design. The experiment focused on the experiences of more than 90 elementary school teachers and their students from districts in Florida, New York, and South Carolina. During the 2004-05 school year, the teachers assigned to the treatment group completed two of PBS TeacherLine’s online mathematics courses. To track changes in teacher beliefs, instructional practices, and student learning, the research team administered surveys and pre/post tests of student learning, and conducted periodic classroom observations.
According to the findings, PBS TeacherLine positively impacted teachers’ beliefs in reformed mathematics teaching practices, which represents the first critical step in supporting instructional change and improved student learning. To follow up on these experimental results, the Hezel Associates team will carry out a longitudinal study that further examines how PBS TeacherLine contributes to instructional practice in different subject areas and affects student learning over time.
Teacher Survey Results:
Since 2002-2003, Hezel Associates has analyzed national data on enrollment and completion in PBS TeacherLine courses, as well as data on teacher-reported outcomes as a result of enrollment. Some recent findings:
• 84 percent of participants said they were attracted to TeacherLine courses because of the flexibility of online learning.
• Half of respondents had taken an online course before, and 33 percent had taken a prior TeacherLine course.
• Teachers main learning expectation is to gain insight into different instructional approaches, and personal growth is their chief expected outcome.
• Users reported that PBS TeacherLine courses provided them with content knowledge and instructional strategies that they could apply to their teaching. By course completion, 2/3 indicated that they had already incorporated these strategies and content learning into their classroom practice.
• The completion rate for PBS TeacherLine courses in 2004-05 was 77 percent, which compares favorably with rates for other online professional development options.
• 95 percent of participants who completed post-participation surveys indicated that their learning expectations were either met or exceeded.
• At course completion, 86 percent of users expressed an intention to take another TeacherLine course.
• 87 percent of users indicated that the PBS TeacherLine course they just took was recommendable. Only 69 percent indicated that recently taken, non PBS TeacherLine professional development courses were recommendable.