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This study uses a sample of 454 teachers engaged in an inquiry science program to examine the effects of different characteristics of professional development on teachers' knowledge and their ability to implement the program. The authors analyzed results from a survey of teachers served by 28 professional development providers within a hierarchical linear modeling framework. Consistent with findings from earlier studies of effective professional development, this study points to the significance of teachers' perceptions about how coherent their professional development experiences were for teacher learning and program implementation. The authors also found that the incorporation of time for teachers to plan for implementation and provision of technical support were significant for promoting program implementation in the program.
KEYWORDS: curriculum implementation, professional development, science education
Policy makers, school and district leaders, and researchers are all increasingly concerned with improving the quality of evidence about the effectiveness of teacher professional development, especially in terms of its impact on desired reform outcomes. At the federal level, for instance, programs at the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation (NSF) fund studies aimed at measuring the impact of efforts to improve teacher quality on instruction and student achievement. Within schools and districts, leaders are increasingly looking to providers of professional development for evidence that their activities contribute to improved standardized test scores, especially among low-performing students. And for their part, researchers are increasingly concerned with describing the linkage between die design and conduct of professional development and subsequent improvements to both teacher practice and student learning outcomes (Borko, 2004; Fishman, Marx, Best, & Tal, 2003).
Significant efforts to develop high-quality curriculum materials aligned with standards are also under way, particularly in mathematics and science, in light of findings that existing materials are not sufficient to support student learning (Roseman, Kulm, & Shuttieworth, 2001). In conjunction with these efforts, research is needed that examines what kinds of professional development provide support for the implementation of these curricula. Professional development is widely believed to be required for supporting implementation (Smylie, 1996; Spillane & Thompson, 1997), and some largescale survey studies have shown how professional development can influence teachers' knowledge and practice (Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001; Supovitz & Turner, 2000). These studies provide a strong basis...