This proposal is a request for support for a 3-year exploratory research study aimed at exploring the components and impact of a teacher professional development model (PDM) on teacher performance and student achievement in STEM disciplines at schools serving large numbers of minority students. It seeks to develop a solid empirical basis for strategies to reduce and eliminate the achievement gap in school. It is aimed at exploring the components and impact of a teacher professional development model on teacher performance and student achievement and motivation in STEM disciplines at schools serving large numbers of minority students. It also aims to research and evaluate the impact of teachers who provide students with school experiences that are geared toward fostering high academic achievement. It asks the question, "can a structured intervention aimed at fostering positive student academic attitude be integrated with a quality inquiry science program to increase both student academic outcome and positive achievement-oriented attitudes?" To answer the questions the PI proposes a 3-year controlled study where the impact of PDM on teacher performance will be evaluated using measures of student achievement and attitudes. The plan is to implement research using a corps (30) of elementary and middle school teachers from the Baltimore public schools wherein three groups of teachers will be exposed to a pedagogic only program of study in an institute; another to a content only program of study; and a third group will do studies in an institute focusing on STEM pedagogy and content. The performance of students on a standardized science learning test will determine the extent to which the three groups exposure to content and pedagogy impacts student learning in science.
This report relates to an award to Morgan State University to conduct an exploratory study to address the question," Can a structured intervention aimed at fostering positive student academic attitudes be integrated with a quality inquiry science program to increase both student academic outcomes and positive achievement-oriented attitudes? The aim of the project was to design and evaluate the impact of a teacher professional development model consisting of two distinct but related components. The first was a content component, designed to equip teachers with the skills and content competence to deliver high level science inquiry-based instruction to the target students. The second component involved equipping teachers to motivate students to acquire positive achievement and future-oriented attitudes. The study was carried out in an urban school system with a large African American student population. The study sought to determine whether the students of teachers who employed the strategies to which they were exposed in the professional development would realize higher student achievement and develop more positive achievement-related attitudes than a comparable group of students whose teachers were not exposed to these strategies. The data collection instruments were the Theory of Intelligence Instrument (TOI) and the Racial /Ethnic Identity (REI) instrument for assessment of student achievement- oriented attitudes. Student achievement data were gleaned from teacher-reported course grades. Teacher data were obtained from the Teaching Observation Protocol used to assess the degree to which teachers were implementing the professional development training. Findings suggest that this is a promising approach to enhancing the achievement of the targeted students. There is strong evidence in the literature that students with a positive racial identity as measured by the REI show not only stronger academic achievement but also greater levels of engagement with school. In the present study at least 50% of our student sample had low REI scores, suggesting the need for further investigation of the possible effects of an intervention aimed at developing more positive REI attitudes. The external evaluator’s report suggested that this was a successful exploratory project.
