Abstract
Research demonstrates that staff quality directly impacts student achievement in out-of-school time (OST) settings, and that effective staff development contributes to a skilled workforce. Evaluating OST professional development is therefore attracting increased attention from researchers, practitioners, and funding agencies. In the spring of 2004, the Out-of-School Time Resource Center (OSTRC) began searching for professional development evaluation instruments designed specifically for the OST field. Since the OSTRC could not locate research-based surveys for this genre, it implemented a pilot study to create and test such instruments. These surveys were designed to evaluate professional conferences, which are critical (but not exclusive) components of OST professional development opportunities. The overarching goal of this study was to operationalize the pathway between professional development conferences and increased student learning.
Highlights
Evaluating out-of-school time (OST) professional development is attracting increased attention from researchers, practitioners, and funding agencies
In the spring of 2004, the of-School Time Resource Center (OSTRC) began searching for professional development evaluation instruments designed for the OST field
While several types of professional development opportunities are available to out-of-school time staff, the OSTRC focused on assessing conference workshops
Summary
Evaluating out-of-school time (OST) professional development is attracting increased attention from researchers, practitioners, and funding agencies. Since the OSTRC could not locate research-based surveys for this genre, it implemented a pilot study to create and test such instruments These surveys were designed to evaluate professional conferences, which are critical (but not exclusive) components of OST professional development opportunities. The OSTRC initially chose to evaluate conferences, rather than other forms of professional development, because the number and diversity of participants ensured that the tools could be thoroughly tested over a short period of time These tools could be further modified to accommodate workshops, technical assistance, peer networking meetings, and other forms of staff support. The Out-of-School Time Resource Center (OSTRC) at the University of Pennsylvania is conducting a mixed method pilot study to design survey instruments that can assess the effectiveness of out-of-school time professional development in workshop and conference settings. A total of fifty staff participated in the focus groups, each of which was three hours long
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