Transfer of Instructional Practices from Freedom Schools to the Classroom

Abstract

The instructional practices of three current classroom teachers who formerly served as Servant Leader Interns (SLIs) in the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools (CDFFS) Program were examined. Haskell (Transfer of learning: cognition, instruction, and reasoning. Academic Press, San Diego, 2001) outlined eleven principles of transfer of learning, which were used to survey the levels of transfer established from service in Freedom Schools to practice in the traditional classroom. Individual surveys, The Freedom School Pedagogies Teacher Observation Record along with interviews of each participant was used for data collection; all three components were used to triangulate the findings. The findings from this study verified that low transfer was observed when minimal application of the principles of learning were applied. This study revealed that for transfer to occur at high levels, it is imperative that adherence to all 11 principals is made and the understanding of transfer, the application of transfer, and reflection on transfer are implemented. If transfer of instructional practices is a goal of CDFFS for SLIs, the CDFFS program should consider implementing transfer of learning theory in future SLI training.