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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 12 page paper that addresses the question of whether professional development activities improve student reading achievement in the elementary grades. There are few studies that address this specific issue and those that have been conducted are contradictory. Some conclusions have been made from the studies reported, however. Bibliography lists 10 sources.
Page Count:
12 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MM12_PGrdprd.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
typically provide in-service training to improve instructional approaches, often for specific subject areas (Picker, 2002). One study found that 72 percent of teachers in the United States report having participated
in training sessions in specific subject areas during the 12 months prior to the survey (Picker, 2002). A similar proportion reported having attended training workshops that focused on teaching methods
(Picker, 2002). This report also noted that the intensity of the training is low with more than half of the responding teachers reporting they had eight or fewer hours in
such training (Picker, 2002). The results of one study of the effect of in-service training on math and reading performance in elementary schools were presented in a
report entitled "The Impact of Teacher Training on Student Achievement: Quasi-Experimental Evidence From School Reform Efforts in Chicago" (Picker, 2002). The authors of the study, Jacob and Lefgren, concluded that
"moderate increases in teacher training have no statistically or academically significant effect on either reading or math achievement" (Picker, 2002). The results held true regardless of gender, socio-economic background, race
or student ability (Picker, 2002). The Chicago public school district is the third largest in the nation with 430,000 students attending, including a large number of low-income students (Picker, 2002).
Because of the very low achievement scores, more than 70 elementary schools were put on probation and mandated to raise student achievement scores (Picker, 2002). These schools were also provided
extra funding for professional development and other support services (Picker, 2002). The extra teacher training and technical and other assistance seems to have had no significant or measurable effect
on students scores in math or reading (Picker, 2002). Since national research has found the nature and frequency of professional development activities are comparable to those in Chicago, the researchers
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