Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics

This New Edition collects and brings together in one place what has been learned from professional developers efforts across the country in order to make the framework, principles, and strategies of the first edition come to life. This edition deepens our understanding of professional development through further research and new resources. The original purpose of this book to put a competent and caring teacher in every classroom has yet to be fulfilled and is more urgent now than ever.

The authors provide one-stop shopping for busy practitioners that incorporates the most up-to-date research gleaned from the broadest possible research base as well as robust and rich descriptions of effective professional development programmes. It incorporates the growing knowledge base about learning, teaching, the nature of science and mathematics, professional development, and change. The authors scanned the field of professional development in mathematics and science over the last five years, noting what has changed and what has not, dissected the original framework, updated examples, incorporate what authors have learned as well as advances in the field. This essential primer offers a framework that considers key inputs and combines strategies uniquely tailored to their environment and goals; summarizes key knowledge and best practices; provides guidance on assessing one′s context; describes strategies that go beyond most common workshops and institutes; provides real-life examples of how elements of the framework were used to create professional development initiatives; offers references and resources for further exploration and inquiry.

Highlights of the Second Edition include:

- New design framework that incorporates standards, student learning data, and evaluation techniques

- More guidance for assessing context using data

- More strategies for professional development, including lesson study, aligning and selecting curriculum, and demonstration lessons.

- Stronger real-life examples, including new uses of technology and data-driven designs

An essential resource for educators who design, conduct, and support professional development for teachers of mathematics and science, including staff developers, principals, teacher leaders, curriculum supervisors, and leadership teams. College and university faculty in education, science, and mathematics will also find this to be a useful compendium of ideas for improving mathematics and science education.

Susan Loucks-Horsley was the lead author of the first edition of Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics and directed the professional development research for the National Institute for Science Education on which the book is based. At the time of her passing in 2000, Susan was the associate executive director of Biological Sciences and Curriculum Study (BSCS) and senior research associate for science and mathematics at WestEd. She had previously served as director of pro­fessional development and outreach at the National Research Council’s Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education, where she promoted and monitored standards-based education, especially the National Science Education Standards. Susan was a leading researcher, writer, and professional developer who enjoyed collaborating with others to address education’s toughest problems. She was the lead author of sev­eral books, including Continuing to Learn: A Guidebook for Teacher Develop­ment, An Action Guide for School Improvement, and Elementary School Science for the 90s. In addition, she wrote numerous reports on teacher development for the National Center for Improving Science Education, as well as chap­ters and articles on related topics. While at the University of Texas/Austin Research and Development Center for Teacher Education, she worked on the development team of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM), a classic framework for understanding and leading change efforts.

Nancy Love is Director of Program Development at Research for Better Teaching in Acton, Massachusetts, where she leads this education-consulting group’s research and development. She is the former Director of the Using Data Project, a collaboration between TERC and WestEd, where she led the development of a comprehensive professional development program to improve teaching and learning through effective and collaborative use of school data. This program has produced significant gains in student achievement as well as increased collaboration and data use in schools across the country. Love has authored several books and articles on data use, including A Data Coach’s Guide to Improving Learning for All Students: Unleashing the Power of Collaborative Inquiry (2008, Corwin Press) and Using Data to Improve the Learning for All: A Collaborative Inquiry Approach (2009, Corwin). She is also well known for her work in professional development both as a presenter and author of articles and books, including Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics (Second Edition) with Susan Loucks-Horsley, Kathy Stiles, Susan Mundry, and Peter Hewson (2003, Corwin Press). In 2006, she was awarded the prestigious Susan Loucks-Horsley Award from the National Staff Development Council in recognition of her significant national contribution to the field of staff development and to the efficacy of others.

Katherine E. Stiles is a Senior Program Associate in the STEM Program at WestEd. Katherine is Co-Director of WestEd’s National Academy for Science and Mathematics Education Leadership, providing professional development and support for education leaders nationwide. The foci of the Leadership Academy–effective leadership, educational change, professional development and communities of learners, facilitation, and using data and evidence to achieve results–are reflected in the book, (2013). She designs and leads science and mathematics education program evaluation projects at the school, district, state, and national level, focusing on assessing the quality of professional development, and the relationship between teachers’ conceptual learning, changes in practice, and student learning. Katherine works with schools and districts to enhance student learning through the development of collaborative inquiry into data among staff as part of her work on the Using Data Project and as co-author of (2008). She was co-director of an NSF-funded project, Building Systems for Quality Teaching and Learning in Science, that resulted in the publication of professional development materials and a simulation board game on science education. The project extended the work of the seminal book on professional development that she co-authored, (2010). Prior to joining WestEd in 1995, Katherine worked at the National Science Resources Center in Washington, D.C., as a science curriculum developer and authored four curriculum units for the program.

Susan Mundry is currently deputy director of Learning Innovations at WestEd and the associate director of WestEd’s Mathematics, Science, and Technology Program. She directs several national or regional projects focused on improving educational practice and oversees the research and evaluation projects of Learning Innovations. She is codirector of a research study examining the distribution of highly qualified teachers in New York and Maine for the Northeast & Islands Regional Education Laboratory and is the project codirector for the evaluation of the Intel Mathematics Initiative, a professional development program for elementary and middle grades teachers aimed at increasing student outcomes in mathematics. She is also a Principal Investigator for two National Science Foundation projects that are developing products to promote the use of research-based practice in science and mathematics. Since 2000, Mundry has codirected the National Academy for Science and Mathematics Education Leadership, which provides educational leaders with training and technical assistance on professional development design, leading educational change, group facilitation, data analysis and use, and general educational leadership, as well as access to research-based information to improve teaching and learning. Building on this work, she provides technical assistance to several large urban schools districts engaged in enhancing leadership and improving math and science programs.

As a senior research associate for the National Institute for Science Education (1997-2000), Mundry conducted research on attributes of effective professional development. She served on the national evaluation team for the study of the Eisenhower Professional Development program led by the American Institutes for Research, where she worked on the development of national survey instruments and the protocols for case studies. From 1982 to 1997, Mundry served in many roles from staff developer to associate director at The NETWORK, Inc., a research and development organization focused on organizational change and dissemination of promising education practice. There, she managed the work of the National Center for Improving Science Education and the Center for Effective Communication, provided technical assistance to schools on issues of equity and desegregation, oversaw national dissemination programs, and co-developed the “Change Game,” (Making Change for School Improvement) a simulation game that enhances leaders’ ability to lead change efforts in schools and districts.

Mundry has written several books, chapters, and articles based on her work. She is coauthor of the best selling book, Designing Effective Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics (2nd edition), as well as Leading Every Day: 125 Actions for Effective Leadership, which was named a National Staff Development Council Book of the Year in 2003. Her latest book is The Data Coach’s Guide to Improving Learning for All Students (2008).

Peter W. Hewson is Professor of Science Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is also the director of a project to develop collabo­rative research in science and mathematics education between South Africa and the United States. He has been a principal investigator on several other federally funded multiyear projects in science education. As Codirector of the Professional Development Project of the National Institute for Science Education, he coauthored the first edition of Designing Professional Develop­ment for Teachers of Science and Mathematics (1998). He teaches in the under­graduate teacher education and graduate science education programs and coordinates a professional development school in Madison. He has been deeply involved in the development of a conceptual change framework and its application to the learning and teaching of science. He has also studied initial teacher education and the continuing professional development of practicing teachers. He has published numerous articles on these and re­lated topics. He received his D.Phil. in theoretical nuclear physics from Oxford University, and he taught physics and science education in South Africa before moving to the United States.