The Possibility of Improving Student Achievement through
Successful Staff Development Practices
Katy Azanza
With the increase
of expectations on students and teachers, a new level of stress in the
workplace is effecting education. Teachers on my campus are searching for ways
to improve their teaching and increase student achievement. The district and
campus administration offer and encourage teachers to improve themselves and
their teaching practices through various staff development opportunites. These
may take place during faculty meetings, inservice days, after school, or during
the summer. However, the attendance and participation during required and
optional trainings was disappointing and discouraging. While the trainings have
positive intended outcomes for teachers and students, they were not always
engaging enough to reach the set goal. Teachers on my campus desired staff
development opportunites they could take back to their classrooms and try out. I
chose to survey teachers following summer trainings to gather information on
the effectiveness of the sessions attended. I interviewed several Instructional
Coaches who led some of these sessions to discuss the results of their
individual surveys. I was able to find varying levels of teacher engagement
through different staff development practices. This led to my question: How can effective staff development increase
student achievement?
My vision is that
we will find areas where the staff development is either vigorous and we can
perpetuate to build on it, or that in impuissant areas we can adjust our practices
so that the teachers and students benefit. My orchestration is to design the
survey in such a way as to quantify the construal and engagement of the faculty
to address strengths and weaknesses and develop an orchestration to ameliorate
staff development.
The current research
surrounding the topic of staff development focuses on the way adults learn
best. “Effective approaches to teacher development mirror what
we know about learning; they are continuous, build on learners' current
knowledge and skills, and include sufficient intensity and practice that new
learnings can become part of teachers' ongoing practice” (Loucks-Horsley et al. 1987). Keeping
this in mind, when conducting my research I need to examine the various types
of staff development that would best fit the way teachers on my campus learn. Teacher
learning will ultimately lead to an increase in student learning and achievement.
When my Action
Research project is complete, I will have data to present to administrators,
counselors, and faculty that will hopefully increase understanding of effective
staff development practices that lead to incremented student achievement. In
integration, all faculty can be updated and enlightened on how they can utilize
trainings to become a better educator. With the various types of practice when
conducting staff development, our
administration will become cognizant of the staff development that works best
on our campus.
When
organizing the implementation of the project, I needed to ascertain that I
would get as much feedback as I could to collect adequate data. Surveying the
campus was the most efficient way to accumulate information following a staff
development. I consulted my site-supervisor and team when deveveloping the
questions for the surveys, and made adjustments to questions after acquiring
the first round of results. In some cases, I interviewed staff members and took
notes. This was a great way to acquire a feeling for the emotions involved
towards the subject. During faculty meetings, trainings, and other staff
development opportunites I took detailed notes regarding the agenda. I then
utilized these notes to create a survey targeted toward the attendees. In
addition, I saught out teachers who had previously taken away learning
experiences from a staff development and implemented them into their classroom.
This will provide me with some data of student achievement. I plan to compare
this data to other classrooms or previous years.
I used data
to lead this project. Our needs assessment clearly showed that something had to
be done to improve the staff development practices on campus. I brought this
need to the attention of my Principal and Assistant Principal. Once we agreed
on the need, they were excited to have data that could lead to improvements and
student achievement. I took suggestions by the administration and faculty members
to create a plan and goal for my project. By communicating with the staff about
the target of the research, I gained support and personal investment in the
project.
Staff development
opportunites are designed to increase student achievement and teacher expertise;
therefore, all students, including those with diverse backgrounds are included.
The data collected in the action
research will address the needs of our students and assist faculty in meeting
those needs by giving us the knowledge to expand our learning experiences
through effective staff development.
References:
Loucks-Horsley, S., C. Harding, M.
Arbuckle, C. Dubea, M. Williams, and L. Murray. (1987). Continuing to Learn:
A Guidebook for Teacher Development. Andover, Mass.: The Regional
Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast and Islands, and
Oxford, Ohio: The National Staff Development Council.
