h i g h l i g h t sInvestigation of conditions associated with teachers' in-depth discussions. Focus on teacher communities of inquiry in a professional development initiative. Using unique methodological approach: Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Single purpose was a necessary condition associated with in-depth discussion. Coach questions and connecting theory and practice were also associated conditions. a b s t r a c t This paper examines factors that contributed to critical conversations in teacher communities of inquiry (CI) as part of a statewide professional development initiative in the United States. Based on a three-year mixed method design, we use qualitative comparative analysis to investigate the influence of combinations of conditions on the depth of discussion. Results suggest that there were three conditions associated with the extent to which CI members engaged in discussions with substantive interaction and reflection: a clear purpose, coach questioning, and the connection of theory to practice. The findings contribute to the understanding of effective reform implementation in different contexts.
The purpose of this chapter is to describe a statewide professional development program designed to improve teachers' knowledge and practices around formative assessment. The authors describe three key characteristics that guided the program design: (1) providing a framework for formative assessment; (2) providing opportunities for flexible implementation; and (3) providing support for capacity development. The chapter provides examples of the ways the program was instantiated at the local level, discusses the potentials and challenges related to the professional development implementation, and illustrates connections to teacher learning about formative assessment. The authors provide recommendations that may help individuals who design and deliver professional development that balance large-scale program expectations (e.g., state-level) with local and situated contexts of implementation. General implications for the design and enactment of situated professional development models are also described.
Background Student engagement is a cognitively complex domain that is often oversimplified in theory and practice. Reliance on a single model overlooks the sophisticated nature of student engagement and can lead to misconceptions and limited understandings that hinder teachers’ ability to engage all of their students. Assessing varied models simultaneously frames student engagement as a dynamic process contingent upon interactions among many contextual variables. Purpose We explore the relationship between how high school teachers understand student engagement and their ability to consistently engage students in their classes. We present cognitive flexibility theory and its seven reductive biases to illustrate the complexity of engaging students across contexts and subjects. This theory makes a compelling a priori case that teachers who more consistently and effectively engage students in their classes are likely to be those who possess higher levels of cognitive flexibility in the domain of student engagement. To test this hypothesis empirically, we asked: Do teachers who are more effective at engaging students reveal more cognitive flexibility when discussing student engagement, as compared with teachers who are less effective at engaging students? Research Design We present a mixed-methods case study conducted over three years at one high school. We utilize annual student survey data to identify teachers with whom students reported relatively more and less classroom engagement. Then, we examine the comments of 18 teachers who participated in annual focus groups about student engagement across those three years to identify differences in how more and less engaging teachers express cognitive flexibility in their understanding of student engagement. Findings We find that teachers whom students found more engaging tended to illustrate more cognitive flexibility in how they thought and spoke about engagement. By contrast, teachers whom students rated as less engaging tended to see engagement in more simplistic and compartmentalized ways. Within these trends, the data provide evidence that individual teachers fall along the seven theorized continuums regarding the extent to which they demonstrated cognitive flexibility on engagement. Conclusions By bringing cognitive flexibility theory to the domain of student engagement, we call for a new research agenda focused on understanding the development of teachers’ knowledge of student engagement and, in turn, engaging instruction. In place of receiving a new model, tool, or checklist, teachers need opportunities to grapple with the complexity of engagement, to see and analyze various cases, and to build schema in relation to their classroom practice.
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