In-service Intervention Research Articles

Middle School Mathematics Achievement

Teacher professional development is often proposed as a means for improving students' achievement; however, few studies have been successful in empirically connecting teacher inservice interventions to their students' achievement gains, and especially in mathematics. The research presents results of a longitudinal study of an inservice teacher professional development that had as its primary purpose to improve middle school students' mathematics achievement. The study utilized a cross-school comparative research approach for the purpose of examining students' math achievement trajectories Hierarchical linear modeling was used for the study's data analyses. Results of the study revealed that the teacher professional development intervention had positive impacts on both the participating teachers and their middle school students. The participating students' achievement improved significantly for those whose teachers participated in the teacher professional development intervention.

A meta-synthesis of research on in-service EFL teachers' needs for inset programs in Türkiye

The professionalization of teachers has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, leading to increased interest in the training, working conditions, and status of educators. This study addresses this interest by examining the in-service education and training (INSET) needs of English as a foreign language teachers in Türkiye. Despite recognizing the importance of in-service interventions for teacher development, educators often express concerns about the shortcomings of existing INSET programs. Key themes and patterns are identified through a meta-synthesis of ten relevant studies conducted between 2010-2021, including methodology, language skills, technology use, instructional practices, classroom environment, and material development. The analysis employs content and thematic analysis methods, enhancing the understanding of effective in-service training for English as a foreign language teachers and contributing to broader discussions on educators' training, working conditions, and status. The findings underscore the significance of designing INSET programs that address specific teacher needs, promote the practical application of new methods, and foster collaboration between the Ministry of National Education and teacher educators for successful implementation.

Insights into the integration of environmental education in the senior phase

The aim of this paper was to explore how and why senior phase teachers are capable or incapable of integrating environmental education in teaching and learning process. From anecdotal evidence during the work integrated learning process, it was observed that teachers do not necessarily integrate environmental education, and this became the purpose of the study to find out why they do not. Consequently, a research method used was qualitative interpretative multiple case study design in one of the districts of the Mpumalanga province in South Africa. We selected three teachers who separately teach life orientation, natural sciences, and technology in grade 7 as participants from the schools. Data collection tools were interviews and observations. Teachers were interviewed in their schools and some of their lessons were observed. Data was analysed using a typology approach. We inferred from the results and findings of the paper that these teachers had problems with the integration of environmental education. The problems ranged from the lack of understanding of what is environmental education to misconceptions of the concepts of environment and environmental education. With these challenges it is not surprising that even the ones that could integrate were not aware that they did integrate environmental education. It is therefore suggested that it was not a lost cause at all as they had glimpses of how to integrate environmental education which argues well for the recommendation that the micro foundation of in-service interventions to capacitate teachers on how to integrate environmental education across all the subjects should be done. Further studies are recommended on the effectiveness of the in-service workshops that focuses on the integration of environmental education.

Improving the Management of Terminal Delirium at the End of Life

Objective:Terminal delirium is a distressing process that occurs in the dying phase, often misdiagnosed and undertreated. A hospital developed the “comfort measures order set” for dying patients receiving comfort care in the final 72 h of life. A chart review of patients experiencing terminal delirium revealed that the current medication option initially included in the order set was suboptimally effective and patients with terminal delirium were consistently undertreated. The purpose of this pilot study was to highlight an in-service intervention educating nurses on the management of terminal delirium at the end of life and to assess its effect on their knowledge of the management of patients with terminal delirium.Methods:A before-and-after survey design was used to assess the effect of the in-service training on nurses' knowledge of terminal delirium.Results:We describe the results from a small sample of nurses at a large urban tertiary care center in Canada. Of the twenty nurses who attended the in-services, 60% had cared for a patient with terminal delirium; however, 50% felt that their knowledge of the topic was inadequate. Despite no statistical significance between the pre- and posttest scores for both the oncology and the medicine unit nurses, all participants who completed posttest survey found the in-services useful.Conclusions:The findings from this study provide initial insights into the importance of in-service trainings to improve the end-of-life care and nursing practice. Future research will include expanding this pilot project with sufficient power to assess the significance of these types of interventions.

Promoting Educators’ Use of Culturally Responsive Practices: A Systematic Review of Inservice Interventions

Few educators are well-equipped to bridge cultural differences to ensure that all students have opportunities to learn and succeed. Existing frameworks for culturally responsive practices (CRP) suggest its potential for promoting equitable learning environments, yet the state of the science has not been assessed. This systematic review aimed to (a) describe the features of empirically examined inservice CRP interventions, (b) analyze the quality of the empirical studies, and (c) characterize study measures, outcomes, and conclusions regarding intervention impact. We found a total of just 10 empirical studies of the impact of CRP inservice training models (two quantitative and eight qualitative). Study methods universally failed to meet standards of evidence for efficacy, effectiveness, and dissemination; none employed rigorous design features to allow causal inference. Findings suggest that the research base is inadequate to draw conclusions regarding effectiveness and that more rigorous CRP inservice intervention research is needed.

An early in-service intervention in Irish mid-nineteenth century elementary education

The political and social rationale for the establishment of a national system of education in nineteenth-century Ireland has been the focus of considerable attention by scholars. Less attention has, however, been paid to teacher quality and school effectiveness within that system. Various efforts were made over the course of the century to address the issues of teacher quality and school effectiveness. The paid monitor was introduced in the early 1840s to convent and ordinary national schools, with paid pupil–teacher programmes recognised in the larger convent and national schools during the same period. A more strategic effort was made to address the issue of teacher quality with the introduction of an in-service type intervention from the mid-1850s to provide a school-based programme for teachers and managers in effective school organisation. Examining this intervention is the purpose of this paper: what was its rationale and purpose, how was it planned and implemented; what was its impact and what is its historical legacy?

BUILDING CAPACITY FOR DEVELOPING STATISTICAL LITERACY IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: LESSONS LEARNED FROM AN INTERVENTION

This paper aims to contribute to the emerging literature on capacity-building in statistics education by examining issues pertaining to the readiness of teachers in a developing country to teach basic statistical topics. The paper reflects on challenges and barriers to building statistics capacity at grass-roots level in a developing country, based in part on lessons learnt from the design of an in-service intervention for teachers in South Africa, and on illustrative data about teachers’ attitudes, collected as part of this intervention. The paper reflects on implications for future design of interventions, as well as on research needs that can inform future capacity-building in statistics education in developing countries.
 First published November 2014 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

Intergenerational science programming: A catalyst for motivation in older adults

The purpose of this study was to determine if increased use of science processing skills would in turn increase motivation in older adults. There were three complimentary curricular topics that informed this project: intergenerational (IG) programming, natural motivation, and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum. For this study, a facilitator in-service intervention was developed to specifically focus on STEM practices in IG programming. Overall, increasing use of science processing skills in the context of an IG program engaged certain natural motivators in older adults. Following the training, the same older adult participants experienced improved life satisfaction with trends in decreasing depression. Increased use of communication-related science processing skills is an effective method to improve well-being among older adults with dementia.

Use of Interview and Observation to Clarify Reported Practices of Head Start Staff Concerning Problem Behavior

This study used interviews and classroom observation to follow up a survey of 78 Head Start staff from five programs in the mid-Atlantic region. The purpose of the study was to collect additional details about administrator and staff needs in regard to addressing children’s challenging behavior in order to design a PBS in-service intervention. Interviews were conducted with 45 adults from the same preschool sample, and direct observation occurred in 10 classrooms. Similar to prior survey results, it was found that interview respondents (a) listed externalizing behaviors as the predominant challenging behavior, (b) identified prevention and replacement methods for addressing problem behavior, and (c) indicated that families of children with challenging behavior were given opportunities to be involved in intervention planning and implementation. However, interview and observation results further exposed the use of reactive practices and revealed five primary barriers to addressing children’s challenging behavior. Finally, interview respondents reported that all programs had defined procedures they followed when children exhibited challenging behavior that in most programs was based on a traditional, child-focused, mental health approach rather than on a comprehensive systems approach like positive behavior support.

Efficacy, Intent to Teach, and Implementation of Nutrition Education Increases After Training for Health Educators

Background: Self-efficacy, outcome expectations, outcome value and strong intentions to teach are linked to teaching competence, curricular implementation and student outcomes. Purpose: The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of nutrition in-service professional development to increase self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, outcome values and intentions to teach nutrition education as part of a broader health education curriculum. Methods: A quasi-experimental design examined teachers' self-efficacy, outcome expectations, outcome value and intentions to teach in teachers who participated in an in-service intervention (N = 30) and controls who did not (N = 29). Results: A significant interaction between groups over time was found for self-efficacy and outcome expectations. For outcome value and intention to teach, a significant main effect for time was observed. The intervention group scored significantly higher than the control group in both self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Furthermore, scores for intention to teach and outcome values were higher post-intervention. Discussion: Results of this study indicate that in-service training combined with adequate instructional resources increased both teacher self-efficacy and the number of lessons the intervention teachers intended to teach. Translation to Health Education Practice: Because self-efficacy has been strongly linked to teacher effectiveness, efforts should be directed at providing continual training for teachers based on risk behaviors outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nursing home staff training in dementia care. A systematic review of evaluated programs

Background: We reviewed studies of in-service interventions for caregivers of personswithdementiainnursinghomespublishedbetween1990and2004. The aim was to obtain an overview of the evaluated interventions and to characterize their methodological quality. Methods: A thorough literature search was conducted, including searching electronic databases for selected intervention studies and previous reviews. Selected studies were summarized and compared along certain categories, and methodological quality was assessed. Results: A total of 21 studies were identified, mostly published in the United States. Most were of poor methodological quality. Although nearly all reported positive effects, their results must be interpreted cautiously due to methodological weaknesses. Extensive interventions with ongoing support successfully demonstrated sustained implementation of new knowledge. Owing to methodological weaknesses and a lack of follow-up evaluations, little or no evidence existed for the efficacy or, particularly, the transfer of knowledge in simpler interventions when reinforcing and enabling factors were not present. Conclusion: On an international and, particularly, on a national level a lack of evaluated in-service training programs for caregivers in homes for people with dementia is apparent. Methodological weakness is common. This study highlights the need for well-defined methodologically improved studies, providing conclusive evidence of the effects of intervention types to help improve the quality of dementia care.

Building support for language and early literacy in preschool classrooms through in-service professional development: Effects of the Literacy Environment Enrichment Program (LEEP)

There is a substantial and persistent gap in achievement between children from different backgrounds [National Center for Education Statistics. (2002). Children's reading and mathematics achievement in kindergarten and first grade. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office] that can be traced to the preschool years [Snow, C. E., Burns, M. S., & Griffin, P. (Eds.). (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. Washington, DC: National Research Council, National Academy Press], highlighting the importance of ensuring that preschools that serve low-income populations provide strong support for children's language and early literacy development. The current project sought to improve program quality in Head Start classrooms throughout New England with the Literacy Environment Enrichment Program (LEEP), an in-service intervention that was delivered in the form of a credit-bearing course. The impact of LEEP was studied using a wait-list comparison group strategy to determine whether intervention group teachers (n = 30) showed more fall–spring growth in measures of classroom support for literacy than did comparison group teachers (n = 40). Multiple hierarchical regression analyses that controlled for background measures and fall scores on classroom measures revealed moderate to large positive effects on all measures of classrooms support for language and early literacy with the exception of writing, for which only a small effect was found.

Nursing home staff training in dementia care: a systematic review of evaluated programs

We reviewed studies of in-service interventions for caregivers of persons with dementia in nursing homes published between 1990 and 2004. The aim was to obtain an overview of the evaluated interventions and to characterize their methodological quality. A thorough literature search was conducted, including searching electronic databases for selected intervention studies and previous reviews. Selected studies were summarized and compared along certain categories, and methodological quality was assessed. A total of 21 studies were identified, mostly published in the United States. Most were of poor methodological quality. Although nearly all reported positive effects, their results must be interpreted cautiously due to methodological weaknesses. Extensive interventions with ongoing support successfully demonstrated sustained implementation of new knowledge. Owing to methodological weaknesses and a lack of follow-up evaluations, little or no evidence existed for the efficacy or, particularly, the transfer of knowledge in simpler interventions when reinforcing and enabling factors were not present. On an international and, particularly, on a national level a lack of evaluated in-service training programs for caregivers in homes for people with dementia is apparent. Methodological weakness is common. This study highlights the need for well-defined methodologically improved studies, providing conclusive evidence of the effects of intervention types to help improve the quality of dementia care.

Taking on a researcher's identity: Teacher learning in and through research participation

In the wake of new educational initiatives for professional development, interest in how, when, and what teachers learn is growing. Traditionally, most research into teacher learning has been located in pre-service and in-service interventions and in studies of classroom practice. Few studies investigate how teachers learn in informal settings, particularly as research participants. Through discourse analysis, this study presents an analysis of one teacher's informal dialogues with a researcher. It describes how, by drawing from different systems of knowing, she positions and identifies herself during retrospective reflection about her current practice and goals for the future. The study demonstrates that in this particular mode of interaction the teacher learned by taking on the identity of a researcher of her own practice. The findings reinforce the importance of an ever-present question for research conducted with teachers: How do research relationships shape the identities teachers construct for themselves.

An Examination of Change in Teacher Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Science Education Based on the Duration of Inservice Activities

Researchers investigated the optimum length of teacher inservice activities where increasing teacher efficacy was the goal. Participants were elementary science teachers from seven teacher enhancement projects conducted from 1992-99. The length breakdown of each program was: 1992--6 weeks; 1994--6 weeks; 1995--4 weeks; 1996--4 weeks; 1997--4 weeks; 1998--3 weeks; and 1999--2 weeks. In each of the projects, teachers completed the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI) on the first and last days of the inservice workshops. The STEBI examined personal science teaching efficacy (PSTE) and science teaching outcome expectancy. Data analysis indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the mean PSTE gain scores on the three contrast variables among the four groups of teachers whose PSTE pretest scores were greater than or equal to 50. This may be due to the fact that teachers already scored high on the PSTE scale. Among teachers whose pretest PSTE scores were less than 50, there were significant gains when comparing the mean gain scores from teachers in the land 3-week sessions and teachers in the 4and 6-week sessions. It was found that inservice intervention programs had the greatest impact on the efficacy of those teachers who began the program with the lowest efficacy. Given the consistent relationships demonstrated between teacher efficacy and positive student outcomes, inservices impacting teachers' low efficacy are worth close examination. (Contains 32 references and 8 tables.) (SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

Effects of a Curriculum and Inservice Program on the Quantity and Quality of Elementary Physical Education Classes

The primary responsibility for engaging children in opportunities to be physically active and learn physical skills rests with school physical education. This study evaluated the effects of a combined health-related curriculum and inservice program on the quantity and quality of elementary school physical education lessons. Seven schools (N = 28 fourth-grade classes) in one district were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: 10 classes were taught in their usual manner by classroom teachers (Control [CO]); 10 classes were taught by trained classroom teachers (TT) who received inservice training and follow-up consultations; and 8 classes were taught by physical education specialists (PES) hired by the research project. Student activity level, curriculum context, and teacher behavior were directly observed and coded during a sample of 112 lessons over an 8-month period. Results indicated significant differences in both the frequency and mean length of classes (PES, 26.7 min; TT, 23.4 min; CO, 18.9 min). Additionally, the curriculum and inservice program equipped trained classroom teachers to provide significantly better classes than were provided by controls in terms of student activity engagement, lesson context, and active instructional behavior, though their classes did not match the quality of those taught by the physical education specialists. This study is unique in its use of direct observation of lessons to assess a curriculum and inservice intervention.

Differential treatment in New Zealand: Reflections on research in minority education

Differential treatment is one name for the unequal participation of children in classroom lessons. Existing New Zealand research documents the differential treatment of Maori children in the first year of school. An inservice intervention with New Zealand Junior Class teachers was carried out during 1987, involving changes in the setting events in which teachers and students interact around beginning literacy tasks. On a follow-up visit nearly two years later, the suggestions made in that intervention do not seem to have been picked up by local educators. With brief reference to two positive school models, the complex issues in research on minority education are discussed.