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Article Excerpt
Abstract
Teachers' professional development is being viewed as a key ingredient in improving U.S. schools (Stein, Smith & Silver, 1999). Analysis of program exit portfolios identified critical experiences, features and program structures that enhanced or diminished teachers' professional development. It revealed areas in which the program did not contribute to teachers' professional growth. A portfolio based upon authentic evidence and the use of teacher narrative can capture the complexity and realities of schools in conjunction with teacher development.
Introduction
In the current quest to improve instruction and schooling for all children, teachers are now viewed as significant leaders. As Stein, Smith, and Silver (1999) write, "More than any time in recent history, teachers' professional development is being viewed as a key ingredient in improving U.S. schools" (p.237). Unfortunately, we know that current professional development experiences for practicing teachers often miss the mark in creating lasting, meaningful learning experiences that support teachers' work with students. Practicing teachers' prefer professional development experiences that take into account their content knowledge, pedagogical skills and philosophical approaches in order to address student learning needs (Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001).
Traditionally, most teacher professional development experiences take one of two forms: district-mandated staff development and elective participation in university/college courses, workshops, and summer institutes often provided by university teacher educators. Research findings suggest that staff development, in-service, and course work experiences have little long lasting impact on teachers' growth as practitioners. Current professional development models for practicing teachers are often criticized for being delivered out of the teaching context and disconnected from the realities of their school and classroom. In addition, research suggests that the professional development experiences are not connected, nor supportive of teachers' individual professional interests and needs. Stein, Smith & Silver (1999) argue that when teachers participate in these types of professional development experiences it can often "result in a disconnected and decontextualized set of experiences from which teachers may derive additive benefits, that is, the addition of new skills to their existing repertoires" (p. 240). The challenge is to find ways in which teachers can make connections to their daily practice and grow as informed, thoughtful professionals' working to make a difference in their students' lives, classrooms and schools. Stein, Smith, and Silver (1999) identify five components of a new paradigm for offering teacher professional development experiences for teachers:
1. Teacher assistance embedded in or directly related to the work of teaching,
2. Teacher assistance grounded in the content of teaching and learning,
3. Development of teacher communities of professional practice,
4. Collaboration with experts outside the teaching community,
5. Consideration of organizational context (p. 239-240).
This model acknowledges and recognizes that teacher professional development for practicing teachers needs to address and incorporate these components in order for lasting meaningful professional development to occur. In this paper I will show how these components have been embedded in the curriculum of a master's degree program for practicing teachers that seeks to enhance teacher professional development by providing a curriculum that is centered on teacher research (Ball, 1996, Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 1999, Schwartz, 1988, Zumwalt, 1988), reflection (Greene, 1978; Giroux, 1988), collaboration (Friend and Cook, 1992, Goodlad, 1984, Lieberman, 1987, Lyons, 1998) and continuous improvement (Deming, 1995). Using data from reflective portfolios constructed by teachers at the end of this program, I will argue that professional development based in reflective practice in teachers' classrooms provides the kinds of growth experiences for teachers called for by Stein, Smith & Silver (1999).
Elmore, Peterson and McCarthy (1996) claim that understanding teacher learning includes attending to both the curriculum and the pedagogy of professional development, to what teachers learn and how teachers are taught. I will explore program effectiveness to evaluate what teachers report as meaningful to their professional development. Through portfolio assessment, program faculty gleaned the ways in which teachers intemalized program features of action research, reflection, collaboration, and continuous improvement as teacher self-reported--an authentic assessment of what teachers found meaningful. My purpose in this study of portfolios therefore is twofold: a) to explore the ways in which a two-year school-based Master's program influenced and shaped teachers' professional growth as self-reported through a review of the program's exit portfolio and b) to glean program features and curricular experiences that teachers identified as meaningful to their professional growth.
The Exit Portfolio
Recognizing that individual teachers would have flexibility and ownership of their professional growth in this program we needed an assessment model that would capture the range and depth of professional development experiences that promoted teacher learning and growth. The use of a developmental portfolio as an authentic assessment tool was a natural fit with program goals. The construction of a developmental portfolio focuses on continuous improvement, as teachers experience the dynamics and challenges of constructivist pedagogy and ownership of their professional growth. The incorporation of portfolio assessment served our program in two ways: a) to deepen understanding of an authentic assessment model and b) to open up ways to demonstrate learning. Teachers' professional journeys helped our program identify meaningful program experiences, curriculum and structural supports that fostered or hindered their professional growth. Developmental portfolios are well suited for reflective practice, critical inquiry, and collegial feedback as a means to strive for continuous improvement of classroom practices. A developmental portfolio provided teachers with a tool to systematically examine their classroom practices and capture the complexities of teaching within the classroom context. This portfolio might include representative samples of a broader range and time and offers benefits that traditional one-time classroom assessments cannot.
Portfolio requirements were kept relatively flexible to allow teachers ownership in...
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