Professional Learning Communities and Teacher Quality in a Special Needs School in India: A Case Study

Professional learning community;reading pedagogical content knowledge;teacher professional development.;Education

Zahedi, SiamackBryant, Camille ;

Johns Hopkins University

关键词: Professional learning community;    reading pedagogical content knowledge;    teacher professional development.;    Education;   

Others  :  https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/60031/ZAHEDI-DISSERTATION-2018.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: JOHNS HOPKINS DSpace Repository

【 摘 要 】

Below satisfactory teaching quality was the problem of practice at The Mumbai School(TMS). Quality in teaching was measured in terms of both – student outcomes and teacher practice (Fenstermacher & Richardson, 2005). A needs assessment conducted in 2015 showed that a group of students had lower-than-expected performance in reading at TMS. Further, it was found that teachers who possessed below satisfactory instructional practices and PCK had taught this group of students that demonstrated lower-than expected reading performance. In order to address the problem, it was proposed that a professional learning community (PLC) be established for the two teachers that participated in this study. PLCs are known to positively influence teacher practice and PCK (Gersten et al., 2010; Pella, 2011). An expert literacy teacher was asked to facilitate the PLC meetings once in two weeks for 45 minutes each, over a three month period. A structured agenda and research-based protocols for engagement were provided. The PLC intervention was completed with overall high fidelity in implementation. Trends were found such that the high overall implementation fidelity of the PLC intervention was accompanied by (1) a 16% increase in Teacher A’s PCK test score but no increase in Teacher E’s score; (2) positive change in the classroom practices of both Teacher E and Teacher A as seen in their use of digital literacy tools and explicit instruction in vocabulary, respectively.