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Symposium - Evaluating the Quality of Professional Development: Implications for Districts and States. Measuring Differences in the Quality of Professional Development. Michael S. Garet Kwang Suk Yoon A merican I nstitutes for R esearch Andrew C. Porter Vanderbilt University. Focus.
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Symposium - Evaluating the Quality of Professional Development: Implications for Districts and States Measuring Differences in the Quality of Professional Development Michael S. Garet Kwang Suk Yoon American Institutes for Research Andrew C. Porter Vanderbilt University
Focus • How to conceptualize and measure the full set of professional development experiences districts offer and teachers participate in
Levels of analysis • District portfolio of Professional Development (PD) • Specific PD activities • Specific time-periods during which PD takes place (months, semesters) • Teacher collection of PD experiences
Levels of analysis (continued) District Portfolio Other PD A1 A2 A3 A4 tp1 tp2 tp1 tp2 tp1 tp1 tp2 tp3 Teacher 1 PD Teacher 2 PD
Features of PD activities • Structural features • Type • Duration (contact hours and span) • Collective participation • Core features • Content focus • Active learning • Coherence
Design of MSP evaluation • 4 MSP projects • Within each project, 2 groups of teachers • Treatment group: teachers targeted for MSP participation • Comparison group: matched teachers or schools
Design of MSP evaluation (cont) • Data on professional development collected through Professional Development Activity Log (PDAL) • teachers provide 1 log on each activity each month • data collected for 15 months (July 2003 - October 2004)
Professional Development Activity Log (PDAL) • The PDAL is a web-based, self-administered, longitudinal data collection tool for teachers to record their professional development experiences in detail with the assistance of a series of structured prompts • Teachers log on to their password-protected web account and fill out their PDAL at regular intervals • Visit www.PDAL.net for more information
Next steps 1. Exploring teachers’ PD experiences • Is there a relationship between PD participation and change in instructional practice and achievement? Which teachers receive high-quality PD?
Next steps (cont.) 2. Using the PDAL to examine specific PD activities and portfolios. • Do MSP activities have the intended features? Are some activities of particularly high quality? 3. Examining the reliability and validity of the PDAL
Contact Information Michael S. Garet mgaret@air.org Kwang Suk Yoon ksyoon@air.org Andrew C. Porter andy.porter@vanderbilt.edu Visit us www.PDAL.net