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This study uses a national probability sample of 1,027 mathematics and science teachers to provide the first large-scale empirical comparison of effects of different characteristics of professional development on teachers' learning. Results, based on ordinary least squares regression, indicate three core features of professional development activities that have significant, positive effects on teachers' self-reported increases in knowledge and skills and changes in classroom practice.. (a) focus on content knowledge; (b) opportunities for active learning; and (c) coherence with other learning activities. It is primarily through these core features that the following structural features significantly affect teacher learning: (a) the form of the activity (e.g., workshop vs. study group); (b) collective participation of teachers from the same school, grade, or subject, and (c) the duration of the activity.
In recent years, national, state, and local policymakers and educators have launched efforts to improve education by creating a fundamental shift in what children learn and how they are taught. If children are to achieve at levels demanded by the high standards that states and districts have adopted, however, teachers will have to help them do so. Teachers are necessarily at the center of reform, for they must carry out the demands of high standards in the classroom (Cuban, 1990). Thus, the success of ambitious education reform initiatives hinges, in large part, on the qualifications and effectiveness of teachers. As a result, teacher professional development is a major focus of systemic reform initiatives (Corcoran, 1995; Corcoran, Shields, & Zucker, 1998).
To carry out the demands of education reform, teachers must be immersed in the subjects they teach, and have the ability both to communicate basic knowledge and to develop advanced thinking and problem-solving skills among their students (Loucks-Horsley, Hewson, Love, & Stiles, 1998; National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 1996). The central elements of systemic reform-high standards, curriculum frameworks, and new approaches to assessment aligned to those standards-generate new expectations for teachers' classroom behaviors, as well as for student performance (Bybee, 1993; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1991; National Research Council, 1996; Webb & Romberg, 1994).
However, although teachers generally support high standards for teaching and learning, many teachers are not prepared to implement teaching practices based on high standards (Cohen, 1990; Elmore & Burney,...