Improving Impact Studies of Teachers' Professional Development: Toward Better Conceptualizations and Measures

Headnote

The author suggests that we apply recent research knowledge to improve our conceptualization, measures, and methodology for studying the effects of teachers' professional development on teachers and students. She makes the case that there is a research consensus to support the use of a set of core features and a common conceptual framework in professional development impact studies. She urges us to move away from automatic biases either for or against observation, interviews, or surveys in such studies. She argues that the use of a common conceptual framework would elevate the quality of professional development studies and subsequently the general understanding of how best to shape and implement teacher learning opportunities for the maximum benefit of both teachers and students.

Keywords: causal inference; instructional practices; professional development; research methodology, survey research; teacher quality

Before that time [the invasion of culture] the Romans were satisfied with the practice of virtue; they were undone when they began to study it.

-Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences

This article offers ideas to improve the quality of inquiry into teacher learning, one of the most critical targets of education reform. Research increasingly has identified the continuing development and learning of teachers as one of the keys to improving the quality of U.S. schools (Borko & Putnam, 1995; Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy, 1986; DarlingHammond, 1993; The Holmes Group, 1986; National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 1997; Talbert & McLaughlin, 1993;Thompson & Zeuli, 1999). It is also one of the critical mediators in the effectiveness of policy for teachers and teaching practice (Desimone, Smith, & Frisvold, 2007; T. M. Smith, Desimone, & Ueno, 2005) and in improving student achievement (Desimone, Smith, Hayes, & Frisvold, 2005). Many reforms rely on teacher learning and improved instruction to increase student learning;1 in fact, education reform is often synonymous with teachers' professional development (Sykes, 1996). Substantial resources are spent on professional development at the local, state, and federal levels; for example, in 2004-2005, the federal government spent about $1.5 billion on professional development for teachers (Birman et al., 2007). Thus, understanding what makes professional development effective is critical to understanding the success or failure of many education reforms.

For decades, studies of professional development consisted...