Scale-Up

Sustaining at Scale: District Mathematics Specialists’ Adaptations to a Teacher Leadership Preparation Program

A common approach to scaling up a professional development program is for the researchers who designed the program to prepare teacher leaders to facilitate it at their schools. When researchers eventually leave, however, teacher leaders may receive less support. To ensure that teacher leaders continue receiving support, researchers can prepare district mathematics specialists to assume responsibility for preparing the teacher leaders. Little is known, however, about district mathematics specialists’ role in sustaining, and potentially adapting, professional development programs.

Author/Presenter

Michael Jarry-Shore

Victoria Delaney

Hilda Borko

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2022
Short Description

A common approach to scaling up a professional development program is for the researchers who designed the program to prepare teacher leaders to facilitate it at their schools. When researchers eventually leave, however, teacher leaders may receive less support. To ensure that teacher leaders continue receiving support, researchers can prepare district mathematics specialists to assume responsibility for preparing the teacher leaders. Little is known, however, about district mathematics specialists’ role in sustaining, and potentially adapting, professional development programs. We examined district mathematics specialists’ facilitation of an adaptive teacher leadership preparation program.

Think Alouds: Informing Scholarship and Broadening Partnerships through Assessment

Think alouds are valuable tools for academicians, test developers, and practitioners as they provide a unique window into a respondent’s thinking during an assessment. The purpose of this special issue is to highlight novel ways to use think alouds as a means to gather evidence about respondents’ thinking. An intended outcome from this special issue is that readers may better understand think alouds and feel better equipped to use them in practical and research settings.

Author/Presenter

Jonathan David Bostic

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2021
Short Description

Introduction to special issue focusing on think alouds and response process evidence. This work cuts across STEM education scholarship and introduces readers to robust means to engage in think alouds.

Traveling Teacher Professional Development Model: Local Interpretation and Adaptation of Lesson Study in Florida

This mixed-method comparative study examined lesson study in Japan as the original model, and interpretation and adaption of lesson study as an emerging new model of teacher professional development in Florida, the United States. The study found that lesson study has been interpreted through the lens of organizational structures and routines of teacher professional development in Florida and the U.S. in general, and the model was adapted to fit into the existing organizational contexts.

Author/Presenter

Motoko Akiba

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2016
Short Description

The chapter discusses the underlying views of teacher professional development and the teaching profession in the U.S. that played an important role in the adaptation process of lesson study.

Race to the Top and Lesson Study Implementation in Florida: District Policy and Leadership for Teacher Professional Development

Lesson study was introduced to school districts in Florida in the United States as part of the federal government’s Race to the Top Program in 2010 to scale improvement in instruction and student learning. However, little is known about what district policy and leadership characteristics are associated with the level of lesson study implementation.

Author/Presenter

Motoko Akiba

Aki Murata

Cassie Howard

Bryan Wilkinson

Judith Fabrega

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2019
Short Description

Based on a mixed methods study of a statewide survey and interviews of district professional development directors, we found that district requirement of lesson study, funding provision, and future sustainability plan were significantly and positively associated with a broader implementation of lesson study within the district. Implications for educational leaders at local educational agencies are discussed.

Resource(s)

District Leadership in Scaling Up Instructional Improvement

STEM Categorization
Day
Fri

Learn about two projects’ findings on district leadership practices critical for scaling up ambitious mathematics instruction through teacher professional development. Share your own insights, challenges, and recommendations for scale-up. 

Date/Time
-

School districts play a critical role in supporting the development of school-level capacity for instructional improvement. Yet, our knowledge on what it takes to achieve district-wide improvement in mathematics instruction and student learning is still limited.  The objectives of this panel presentation are: 1) to share, compare, and discuss findings on district leadership for scaling up instructional improvement at various sites, and 2) to identify common aspects of district leadership critical for scaling up ambitious and equitable mathematics instruction. 

Session Types

On the Design and Implementation of Practical Measures to Support Instructional Improvement at Scale

STEM Categorization
Day
Thu

Learn about two efforts to design and implement practical measures of science and mathematics teaching to inform school and district instructional improvement efforts.

Date/Time
-

In contrast to evaluative research that uses accountability measures, improvement science research (Bryk, Gomez, Grunow, & LeMahieu, 2015), using practical measures is designed to provide practitioners with frequent, rapid feedback that enables them to assess and adjust instruction during the process of implementation. The resulting data is potentially of use to multiple stakeholders. For example, practical measures can orient teachers to attend to key aspects of the classroom that might be invisible to them.

Session Types
References

Bryk, A. S., Gomez, L. M., Grunow, A., & LeMahieu, P. (2015). Learning to improve: How America's schools can get better at getting better.
       Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Yeager, D., Bryk, A. S., Muhich, J., Hausman, H., & Morales, L. (2013). Practical measurement. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
       Teaching. Stanford, CA.

Kara Jackson, Jessica Thompson