CTP STUDY DESCRIPTION

Study of District Allocation & Use of Professional Development Resources

Principal Investigators:

Michael S. Knapp, University of Washington
Judy Swanson, Research for Quality Schools

Overview:

With a sample of districts within the Core Study states, including the four Core districts, four survey comparison sites, and one additional district, CTP did case study work to explore how the districts orchestrated and utilized resources aimed at professional development. The overall goal was to understand the decisions about implementation and effects of the districts' attempts to nurture professional learning as part of a full set of interacting policies that bear on teachers' work and careers. CTP's work on this project contributed to a study of the district's role in instructional improvement by the Cross-City Campaign for Urban School Reform.

Main Research Questions:

1. How do different kinds of districts make decisions about the use of professional development resources from federal, state, and local sources?
2. Under what conditions and through what strategies are professional development policies and activities most coherently integrated with other efforts supporting the improvement of teaching? Where less well integrated?
3. In what ways do decisions concerning professional development enable districts to further their attempts to improve teaching and learning?
4. In what ways do federal and other professional development resources and decisions interact with local and state policies aimed at the quality of teaching and learning?
5. What processes and conditions over time have helped districts develop their current approach to professional development resources?

Method:

Case study research, document analysis

Status:

Research Completed

Publications to Date:

None to Date.