This study, Developing Teacher Instructional Leadership Capacity, is designed to advance knowledge on learning and teaching in ways that inform practice. The Bedford Central and White Plains School Districts, in collaboration with Fordham University, will explore how school districts can build capacity for teacher leadership and peer mentoring to improve elementary mathematics teaching at a critical transition point in the professional development continuum for which there is little research. They propose to study the process in which teachers make the transition from teacher to effective mentors to their peers in strengthening their math content knowledge, classroom practice, and use of constructivist curriculum.
The study will examine this critical transition point by researching two different models of professional development for classroom teachers in grades 3-5 in six schools across the two districts. Two district schools, one in White Plains and one in Bedford, would be randomly assigned to Treatment/ Model A. Similarly, two district schools, one in White Plains and one in Bedford, would be randomly assigned to Treatment/ Model B. Two schools would serve as the control group. The study will explore which model is more effective in developing teacher leadership capacity. At the end of five years, the study will assess the extent to which the models have turned out effective teacher leader/mentors, and built the capacity of teachers in the district to deliver effective instruction and student achievement in mathematics. At the conclusion of the fifth year, if one model were identified as more effective, teachers in the district would receive training in that model beginning in June of 2010. This will lay the groundwork for the districts to capture the skills of these teacher leaders to turnkey the most promising model in the other schools in the districts.
As a result of data warehousing, and state and federal accountability requirements, the project team will follow student achievement information on state assessments beyond elementary school into middle- and secondary-level education.
