Here is an interesting cross posting from the math-learn. It is dismally
consistent with the various studies published in JRST.
John M. Clement
Houston, TX
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From Ermeling, B. A. (2005). Transforming professional development
for an American high school: A lesson study inspired, technology
powered system for teacher learning. Unpublished Doctoral
Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
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Sent with the permission of Brad Ermeling.
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What follows is the conclusion of the dissertation. Mr. Ermeling's
address is bradermeling@earthlink.net. A 99-page report based on the
dissertation is available from Mr. Ermeling.
Conclusion
Despite an endless stream of reforms and increased accountability
pressures, American schools still lack a system for bringing change
to the classroom (Gallimore & Stigler, 2003). Teachers continue to
follow traditional routines while they sort through piles of new
curricula, tolerate the latest wave of policies, and passively attend
workshops and seminars. Policy makers, researchers, and the
educational community continue to address the complex cultural
activity of teaching with a constant barrage of solutions and reforms
that are short-term, one-dimensional, and prescriptive. At the same
time, the administrative structure of schools serves as a buffer to
protect the instructional core from disruptions as well as
improvements (Elmore, 2000). The classroom remains a stable fortress,
resistant to change and teachers are seldom engaged in a deliberate
process of improvement where progress is measured against particular
instructional objectives.
In contrast, the systematic approach to teacher learning in this
study enabled the teachers to adopt a new research-based strategy and
implement a transformative approach to their teaching of scientific
concepts. For a period of four months, the teachers spent over 20
hours working to address one specific, common student need and
carefully investigated one strategy to address that need. This
deliberate planning and analysis, within the iterative framework of
systematic inquiry, produced pedagogical content knowledge, enabling
the teachers to personalize and refine that strategy in each of their
content areas.
This kind of PD (professional development) offers no glamorous quick
fix or immediate list of solutions, but what it does offer is a
system for teacher learning that promotes incremental change in the
classroom. These small, gradual changes are a daily investment into
significant long-term results.
As legendary coach, John Wooden, writes,
"When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. . .
Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made.
Don't look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement
one day at a time. That's the only way it happens - and when it
happens, it lasts" (Wooden, 1997, pg. 143).
*********************************************
--
Jerry P. Becker
Curriculum & Instruction
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-4610
Phone: (618) 453-4241 [O]
(618) 457-8903 [H]
Fax: (618) 453-4244
E-mail: jbecker@siu.edu
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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