TITLE:
What Should We Consider in Teachers’ Professional Development Impact Studies? Based on the Conceptual Framework of Desimone
AUTHORS:
Ho Soo Kang, Jungju Cha, Bong-Woon Ha
KEYWORDS:
Teacher Professional Development; Teacher Education; Teacher Evaluation
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.4 No.4A,
April
30,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Teacher professional
development has long been of interest since it affects teachers’ learning, the
practice of teaching, and student learning. In reality, as substantial
resources have been spent on professional development, policy makers increase
their search for evidence-based research about its effects on teachers’ and
students’ outcomes. Therefore, it is imperative to use a solid framework
evaluating professional development. Specifically, Desimone (2009) provides a
comprehensive framework for evaluating the effect of professional development.
Specifically, she represents that: 1) core features of effective professional
development are content focused, active learning, coherence, duration, and
collective participation; 2) the way this effective professional development affect
teachers’ knowledge, their practice, and finally students’ learning; and 3) contextual
factors such as student characteristics, teacher characteristics, and school characteristics
are related to the effectiveness of professional development. Through this
study, Desimone’s framework has been supported by both theoretical literature
and empirical studies. Furthermore, some implications were provided for policy
makers and school leaders as well as for teachers in Korea.