Job-embedded Professional Development Research Articles

Promising Practices for Leadership Development: Exploring a Collaborative Professional Learning and Coaching Program

<p>Given the substantial impact school leaders have on school improvement, the imperative for continuous professional learning for leaders is evident. In this two-year action research study, researchers collaborated with a school division, forming a research-practice partnership, to design and explore a collaborative professional learning and coaching program. The primary objective of this program was to align with local leadership standards and foster leadership development. The central research question was: How does implementation of a collaborative professional learning and coaching program contribute to leadership development? Data were collected from district and school leaders and included pre and post surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The findings of this study indicate that district leadership practices show promising potential in fostering inservice opportunities for leadership development. These practices include the following: (a) ensure programs are sustained with a consistent focus, (b) utilize collaborative learning approaches, (c) assess growth through reflection and feedback, and (d) use action research to support continual improvement. This study aims to provide valuable insights to school districts and researchers regarding the implementation of sustained and job-embedded professional development for school leaders, with a specific focus on leadership development.</p>

Developing Handbook of Job-Embedded Professional Development to Improve Social Presence for Teacher in Post Covid-19 Era

The Covid-19 pandemic is a challenge for teachers to be able to organize an interactive online learning process. Various problems arise in online learning, such as lack of motivation, one-way communication, an excessive amount of assignments, and low competencies and technological skills of teachers. From these problems, the authors offer an idea in the form of handbook of Job-Embedded Professional Development that will equip teachers with social presence skills. This article was compiled using the Research and Development method with a 4D model consisting of Define, Design, Development, and Dissemination. It has reached the Development stage and ready to be developed to Dissemination stage. The JEPD Model handbook is considered to increase teacher’s social presence because the training is attached to schools with flexible hours to accommodate all teachers. The training consists of 7 sessions with 56 hours of training duration and needs supervision from the stakeholders to be optimal. Keywords: teacher, JEPD, training, social presence

Exploring teachers’ perspectives on movement integration using a job-embedded professional development intervention

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to gain teachers’ insight and evaluate a teacher training intervention on movement integration (MI). MethodsAn embedded mixed methods study was used to combine post-intervention qualitative and quantitative data from 12 teachers. ResultsFour themes were generated: employable strategies, increased student engagement, value of additional support, and space, time, and behaviour management. These themes illustrate the intrapersonal, institutional, and public policy barriers that impact MI implementation. ConclusionAn evidence-based teacher MI implementation intervention that utilizes best practices can address intrapersonal barriers to MI use but does not alleviate institutional and public policy barriers.

Professional Development Effects on Early Intervention Providers’ Implementation of Home Visiting Practices

A non-concurrent multiple baseline design across four early intervention providers was used to examine functional relations between job-embedded professional development (PD), including practice-based coaching (PBC), and providers’ fidelity of implementation of home visiting practices for embedded intervention. Four providers with one to two caregivers and their toddler with disabilities or developmental delays participated. The primary dependent measure was the number of essential home visiting practices providers implemented with fidelity. Results from visual analyses showed a functional relation between job-embedded PD and the number of essential home visiting practices implemented with fidelity for three of four providers. Provider and caregiver social validity data indicated PD and home visiting practices and embedded intervention were appropriate, feasible, and useful. Results provide promising evidence for job-embedded PD, including PBC, to support providers’ fidelity of implementation of home visiting practices for embedded intervention. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Impact of Faculty Development Programs in ELT & Professional Development

FDPs and job-embedded professional development could improve teaching and learning, as they provide knowledge, skills, and beliefs to teach effectively; opportunity to participate with other professionals in creating role models that contributed to the improvement of teaching; strengthened commitment to teaching by embedding it within their personal lives; connected what they teach with real-world experiences that were important to them both professionally and personally. The paper also focuses on the challenges related to Faculty Development Programs.

Using professional learning to foster distributed leadership and equity of voice and promote higher quality in Early childhood education

ABSTRACTHigh-quality early childhood education (ECE) can improve children’s educational trajectories. However, the ECE field globally faces challenges that compromise its quality, with COVID-19 childcare closures further intensifying complexities. One solution to improve ECE working conditions is to use a distributed leadership framework to create professional learning opportunities that enhance staff interactions and equity of voice (staff input/investment). Limited research has explored this approach in relation to key outcomes like staff satisfaction, staff retention and classroom quality. The current study filled this gap by examining a job-embedded professional development initiative in the United States, Flamingo Early Learning (FEL). Using a distributive leadership framework, FEL was implemented in two cohorts of 18 ECE programme and 416 educators. Quantitative analyses of FEL online course data from 108 educators showed improvement in content knowledge. Classroom observation data from 64 educators revealed enhanced teacher-child interaction quality. Qualitative analyses of focus groups with 17 educators highlighted increased equity of voice, barriers to achieving the initiative’s goals and lingering effects of COVID-19. Findings were further examined in relation to staff role. Recommendations include using policy-driven initiatives to iteratively develop and evaluate professional learning models that promote distributed leadership and thereby greater ECE educator empowerment, satisfaction and practice.

The Effect of Job-embedded Professional Development on Teacher and Student Outcomes: A Multi-Level Meta-Analysis

The aim of this meta-analysis was to analyze the experimental research into the effects of job-embedded professional development (JEPD) for teachers and student outcomes. Our meta-analysis of experimental studies of the effects JEPD, included 20 studies (with 79 experimental comparisons) at teacher level and 19 studies at student level (with 34 experimental comparisons). Analyses of the studies, representing 2,062 teachers and 21,425 students, revealed a significant, medium-to-large effect size at teacher level (<i>ES</i>= 0.699, <i>SE</i>= 0.092)<b> </b>and a significant medium effect at student level (<i>ES</i> = 0.523, <i>SE</i>= 0.137). Effects for teachers were smaller in studies with a large sample size. Effects for students were positively related to the length of the intervention. The positive outcomes at teacher and student level support the implementation and expansion of JEPD programs across schools.

“It Took Someone Telling Me That I Could Do It”

This multicase study seeks to privilege teachers’ voices related to their experiences within a year-long job-embedded professional development (PD) program. The district initiated the request for PD, which was negotiated and provided by a literacy educator from a nearby university. Eleven second- and third-grade teachers and the language arts coordinator participated. PD consisted of regular visits to teachers’ classrooms and opportunities for weekly individual meetings with each of the teachers, both scheduled by the individual teachers. For data analysis purposes, each teacher’s thread was defined as a single case. Process coding served as a mechanism for most accurately describing participants’ experiences and resulted in 11 codes: affirming, reflecting, owning, observing, applying, questioning, collaborating, disclaiming, modeling, sharing, and communicating. Overall, nine participants explicitly described the individualized PD as a success. Implications for planning, carrying out, and engaging in PD are discussed.

Online peer observation: Reflections on a process-based job-embedded professional development activity through video recordings

Guided by the sociocultural approach to teacher learning, this collective case study describes in-depth online peer observation experiences of six English language teachers and how they reflected on the scheme carried out for a semester at a university. Data were collected via an interest analysis form, 24 reflective diaries, 24 video recordings of pre- and post-observation meetings, and two experience sharing day colloquiums. Thematic analysis was conducted to reveal emerging themes and codes. OLPO led the participants to telecollaborate, scrutinize their online classes, offer solutions for improved teaching, test these solutions in their practices, and reflect on the whole process.

Preparing in Advance to Respond in-the-Moment: Investigating Parallel Changes in Planning and Enactment in Teacher Professional Development

Despite warrants for classroom discussion, research consistently finds that discussions in K-12 classrooms remain rare. Our research investigates whether and in what ways practice-based teacher learning opportunities focused on discussion facilitation influence opportunities for student talk. Grounded in data from a job-embedded professional development program for fourth- to eighth-grade literacy teachers, we analyzed videos of teachers co-planning and co-facilitating discussions with students. Findings indicate that, across 1 year, during co-facilitated classroom discussions, teacher talk decreased, while student talk increased. In a parallel finding, our analysis of co-planning sessions revealed that the ways teachers planned for discussions also changed. Teachers went from engaging only in what we call proactive pedagogical reasoning to balancing that with what we have come to call responsive pedagogical reasoning.

Strengthening lecturer competence with the job-embedded professional development (jepd) model: a solution for dealing with education in the era of 5.0 and the metaverse

The purpose of this study is to provide references related to the model of lecturers' pedagogic competence development in higher education. Pedagogic competence is fundamental in education. This is because pedagogic competence is one of the important factors in teaching. Pedagogic competence relates to how a lecturer can provide teaching that is not monotonous, fun, creative and meaningful and uses various types of media, especially in the Era of 5.0 and the Metaverse.

A randomized trial examining the effects of paraprofessional behavior support coaching for elementary students with disruptive behavior disorders: Paraprofessional and student outcomes

There is limited research on job-embedded professional development designed to promote paraprofessionals' use of research-based strategies to support students with disruptive behaviors. This study serves as the first clustered randomized controlled trial to investigate the efficacy of the Behavior Support Coaching for Paraprofessional Model (BSC-P), which is a job-embedded training intervention for elementary schools. BSC-P is a data-driven coaching model designed to enhance paraprofessionals' implementation of behavior interventions for elementary school students with or at risk for disruptive behavior disorders. Within the present study, primary dependent measures included paraprofessionals' behavioral strategy implementation and perceived supports, the paraprofessional-teacher relationship, and work-related stress, as well as observed and rated student behaviors, academic engagement, academic achievement, and social skills. The sample included 259 students, 101 paraprofessionals, and 36 elementary schools randomly assigned to the BSC-P coaching condition or the waitlist control condition. Multilevel models revealed that, relative to those in the waitlist control condition, BSC-P paraprofessionals demonstrated improvements in behavior management practices (antecedent strategies d = 0.91, reward appropriate behavior d = 1.51) and emotional and instrumental support (ds = 0.60 and 0.63, respectively). No between-condition effects were found for perceived teacher-paraprofessional relationships or work-related stress. Relative to students in the waitlist control condition, students supported by BSC-P paraprofessionals exhibited improvements in observed verbal and physical aggression (ds = −0.68) and academic engagement (d = 0.87), as well as teacher-rated school problems (d = −0.43), adaptive skills (d = 0.44), and social skills (d = 0.42). Paraprofessionals reported that BSC-P was an acceptable and useful professional development model.

A randomized controlled trial of instructional coaching in high-poverty urban schools: Examining teacher practices and student outcomes

Job-embedded professional development is needed to effectively and efficiently enhance teachers' use of evidence-based practices in high-poverty urban communities. This study employed a three-cohort, waitlist controlled, randomized block design to investigate the effectiveness of the Classroom Strategies Coaching Model (CSC) in 14 high-poverty urban elementary schools. The CSC Model is guided by observations of teachers' instructional and behavioral management practices as measured by the Classroom Strategies Assessment System. Primary dependent measures included teacher use of evidence-based practices, student academic engagement, and teacher ratings of class wide student academic and behavior functioning along with perceived instrumental support, emotional support, and stress. The sample included 2195 students and 106 teachers randomly assigned to CSC coaching or waitlist control. Multilevel negative binomial modeling revealed that teachers in the CSC coaching condition had significant improvements in the frequency of academic praise (used 1.74 times more frequently) and behavior praise (used 2.10 times more frequently) as compared to teachers in the waitlist control condition. Multilevel linear models revealed that, relative to the waitlist control condition, teachers in the CSC coaching condition demonstrated significant improvements in quality of instruction (d = 0.52), behavior management (d = 0.60), and class wide student academic engagement (d = 0.41). Teachers reported significant improvements in class wide student academic (d = 0.96) and behavioral functioning (d = 1.24), instrumental support (d = 0.90) and emotional support (d = 1.04). No change was found for teacher stress. Implications for research and practice are reviewed.

The relationship between the types of professional development activities teachers participate in and their self-efficacy: a multi-country analysis

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between professional development and teacher self-efficacy, exploring the extent to which various types, either job-embedded or traditional professional development activities, predict teachers’ perceived self-efficacy while controlling for several teacher characteristics and school context variables. Data from 32 countries and regions were drawn from the 2013 cycle of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). Each of these countries and regions was analysed individually, employing two-level hierarchical linear modelling (HLM). The results indicated that, in most countries, teachers who participated in job-embedded professional development activities, such as coaching or mentoring, teacher networks, and action research, were likely to have higher perceptions of self-efficacy. Meanwhile, traditional forms of professional development, such as seminars, conferences, courses, and workshops, only affected teachers’ perceived self-efficacy in a few countries. The study’s implications for international researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, as well as its limitations, are discussed.

Öğretmenlerin Mesleki Gelişimi Üzerine Kavramsal Bir Çerçeve ve Türk Eğitim Sistemi İçin Çıkarımlar

Öğretmenler günümüz dünyasında son derece önemli ve etik bir meslek icra etmektedirler. Öğretmenler, nitelikli, etik ve yüksek standartlarda hizmet sunabilmek için diğer profesyoneller gibi mesleki gelişim faaliyetlerine katılırlar. Günümüz dünyasında fevkalade miktarda bilgi üretimi söz konusu olup, öğretmenlerin güncel olması için mesleki gelişim faaliyetlerine katılımları gereklilik arz etmektedir. Derleme niteliğine sahip bu çalışmada, mesleki gelişim kavramı ve önemi, mesleki gelişim faaliyetlerini etkili kılan nitelikler, günlük öğretim işinin içerisinde ve işiçinde mesleki gelişim yaklaşımları olan mentorluk ve akran koçluğu ile ders çalışması ve Şangay araştırma takımları tartışılmıştır. Bu makalenin özgün katkısı ise, etkili mesleki gelişim sisteminin kurulması amacıyla destekleyici bazı unsurlara ilişkin çıkarımların ardından, mesleki gelişimi etkili kılan unsurlara yönelik Türk eğitim sistemi için çıkarım ve tartışmalar yapılmış olmasıdır.

Identifying professional dissonance: teacher learning in job-embedded contexts and English-learner (EL)-focused teacher leadership

Many US schools and districts employ teacher leadership and professional development to improve English learner (EL) student education, yet less is known about teachers’ perspectives and learning with EL-focused teacher leaders. Drawing on data from a yearlong qualitative study, this article examines the learning processes of two elementary classroom teachers as they engage in job-embedded professional development with two EL-focused teacher leaders. The findings show that the teachers’ differing beliefs and perceptions of their EL students and their own role in teaching EL students heavily influenced how and to what extent the teachers engaged in work with the EL-focused teacher leaders. Teacher learning occurred when (1) teachers recognized their existing pedagogical knowledge was insufficient to teach their EL students – or ‘professional dissonance’; (2) professional dissonance disrupted existing beliefs regarding EL students and instruction; and (3) this work was done collectively with colleagues alongside the pedagogical work. The findings imply grounding professional learning in teachers’ classrooms helped teachers identify their professional dissonance through engaging with self-identified EL-focused problems of practice. This study shows the potential of job-embedded, teacher leader-led professional development for building a collective sense of urgency and responsibility for EL student education needed for instructional change.

Supporting Teachers in Implementing Movement Integration: Addressing Barriers Through a Job-Embedded Professional Development Intervention

Purpose:Movement integration (MI) is a method to increase physical activity with numerous learning outcomes. However, MI implementation is low. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a job-embedded professional development intervention on teachers’ MI barriers. An implementation science approach was used.Methods:The intervention was developed and delivered through six procedures. Mixed-methods data were used to develop the intervention and assess outcomes. The intervention was delivered over 3 weeks to 12 participants.Results:Reported barriers included time constraints, lack of space, fear of losing control, and limited confidence and competence. Results indicated a significant increase in teachers’ self-reported MI use from pre- to postimplementation (Z = −2.138,p = .0165,r = .6), improved confidence (p = .048), and a strong positive correlation (τb = .627,p = .018) between confidence and competence.Conclusion:Job-embedded professional development may be an effective strategy to support teachers in overcoming barriers to MI.

Coach supported teaming: enhancing functioning to improve outcomes for students with and without disabilities

ABSTRACT Meeting the academic and behavioral needs of students with and without disabilities and improving educational outcomes requires effective school-based and special education teaming. Yet, more often than not, frontline practitioners have been prepared to work individually rather than together in problem-solving teams. Furthermore, teachers receive little or no ongoing job-embedded professional development in the mechanics of effective teaming. Because researchers have identified coaching as an approach for improving effective team processes and outcomes, we provide five steps that facilitate the application of coach-supported teaming. In doing so, our aim has been to equip practitioners with the knowledge and skills needed not only to support the development and maintenance of effective special education and school-based teams but also to improve educational outcomes for all students.

Cross-country collaboration in pursuit of powerful teacher professional learning: Lessons from the European Union

While job-embedded professional learning shows great promise at the school and district level, little is known about how it can be fostered on a grand scale. In 2014 participants from six European Union nations developed and implemented a job-embedded professional development program centered on practitioner inquiry, professional learning communities, and teachers’ use of scholarly literature. This case study provides insight into designing cross-country professional development. Facilitators included collaborative development of the conceptual framework, shared learning experiences, and the use of technology tools for task and time management. Inhibitors included language differences and divergent levels of commitment among the partner nations.

Job-embedded professional development: implementing co-teaching practices in general education classrooms

ABSTRACT This article presents the findings of an empirical research project that focuses on the job-embedded professional development of special education in relation to a school district initiative for greater inclusive practices and the reduction of segregated and ‘pull out’ special education services. The professional development comprised the coaching and modelling of research-based instructional strategies and co-teaching practices wherever the special education teacher was, which was typically in a general education classroom. The co-teaching approaches included one teach/one observe, one teach/one assist, alternative teaching, parallel teaching, station teaching, and teaming, as described by Friend [2015. “Welcome to Co-teaching 2.0.” Educational Leadership 73 (4): 16]. Job-embedded professional development (JEPD) is a relatively new approach for improving co-teaching practices between general and special educators in the United States. This approach was adopted by a school district in West Central Florida serving approximately 70,000 students (pre-kindergarten to 12th grade). Participating elementary, middle, and high school special educators’ reflections on the co-teaching instructional models are examined. The sources for this study include a collation of observed co-teaching approaches and teacher survey responses. Overall, the JEPD appeared to increase the use of co-teaching practices and was well-received by the teachers across all settings.