Teacher Learning and the Acquisition of Professional ...

Teacher Learning and the Acquisition of Professional Knowledge: An Examination of Research on Contemporary Professional Development Author(s): Suzanne M. Wilson and Jennifer Berne Reviewed work(s): Source: Review of Research in Education, Vol. 24 (1999), pp. 173-209 Published by: American Educational Research Association Stable URL: . Accessed: 20/12/2012 12:58 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@. .

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Chapter6

Teacher Learningand the Acquisitionof Professional Knowledge:An Examinationof Research on ContemporaryProfessional Development

SUZANNEM.WILSONANDJENNIFERBERNE MichiganState University

In the past 10 years, the calls for a commitment to teacher learning have increasedexponentially,most likely from a confluence of forces. The standards movement is one such force. Calls for higher standardsfor teachersinevitably eruptedalongsidecalls for higherstandardsfor students.If studentsneededtheir educationservedup differentlyin orderto meet new assessmentsand standards, it followed thatteacherswouldneed somethingnew as well (e.g., Cohen & Ball, 1990). Reformersbegan to note thatchangedcurriculumand testing would not directlyleadto changedteachingpractices.New measuresof studentperformance would entail new ways of teaching.Professionaldevelopmentwas toutedas the ticket to reform.

Mountingeffortsto increasethe professionalizationof teachingconstitutesyet anotherforce. Groupssuch as the NationalCouncilof Teachersof Mathematics (1989, 1991), the NationalCouncil of Teachersof English (1996), the National Boardfor ProfessionalTeachingStandards(1989), andthe InterstateConsortium of ChiefStateSchoolOfficers(Councilof ChiefStateSchoolOfficers,n.d.-a,n.d.b) have authoredmission statementsand subsequentstandardsfor professional teachersand teaching.Professionalteachersrequireprofessionaldevelopment.

Concurrentwith this call for more professionaldevelopmenthas been a call for moreresearchon teacherlearning.Yet, whatthe field "knows" aboutteacher learningis ratherpuzzling. In part,this is due to the scatteredand serendipitous natureof teachers' learning.Beginning teacherstake methods and foundations coursesin educationdepartmentsandsubjectmattercoursesin disciplinedepartments.Sometimesthey workin the field, sometimesin the university.And every school experience, whetherit be in elementaryor middle or high school, in a college or university, has the potential for teaching them lessons about what school is, whatteachersdo, andhow peoplelearn.Lortie's[1975] characterization of this curriculumas the "apprenticeshipof observation" has been a major

Deborah Ball, Pamela Grossman, and P. David Pearson offered helpful insights and questions aboutearlierversions of this chapter.The work was supported,in part,by the NationalPartnership for Excellence and Accountabilityin Teaching, the Consortiumfor Policy Researchin Education, and the Pew CharitableTrusts.Despite the generouscommentaryand supportof these people and organizations,the opinions remainthose of the authorsalone.

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174 Reviewof Researchin Education2, 4

influencein attemptsto theorizeaboutwhatprospectiveteachers"know" about teachingbefore they enterthe profession.

Practicingteachersparticipatein mandatorypart-dayor day-long workshops sponsoredby theirschool district.They pursueindividuallearningopportunities: enrolling in master'scourses, signing up for summerand weekend workshops, joining professional organizations.Some learning, no doubt, goes on in the intersticesof the workday,in conversationswith colleagues, passing glimpses of anotherteacher's classroom on the way to the photocopyingmachine, tips swappedin the coffee lounge, not to mentionthe daily experienceof the classroom.While workshopopportunitieshave been criticizedfor being decontextualized and contrived,Lord(1994) notes thatthese otheropportunitiesfor teacher learning (while they may be more authentic)are happenstance,random, and unpredictable.In sum, teacher learninghas traditionallybeen a patchworkof opportunities-formal andinformal,mandatoryandvoluntary,serendipitousand planned--stitchedtogetherinto a fragmentedandincoherent"curriculum"(Ball & Cohen, in press).

As a field, we know very little aboutwhatteacherslearnacrossthose multiple opportunitiesT. eacherlore suggeststhattraditionailn-serviceprogramsconsistof outside expertswith little knowledgeof local conditionswho presentirrelevant, sometimesamusing,oftenboringprepackagedinformation(Corcoran,1995;Little, 1989, 1994). Teacherlore goes on to arguethatthese experiencesare irrelevant andteachteacherslittle(oratleastlittleof worth).Inhis surveyof teachers'ratings of opportunitietso learn,Smylie(1989), forexample,foundthatdistrict-sponsored in-service workshopswere on the bottom of the heap, rankedlast out of 14 possibilitiesin termsof what teachersconsideredmost valuable.Althoughmost workshopsare accompaniedby evaluations-typically consistingof filling out a form aboutwhat was enjoyable-efforts to measurewhat teacherslearnedhave not been partof typical evaluationfare. And while Smylie found that teachers rankeddirectclassroomexperienceas theirmostimportantsite forlearning,extensive studies of teacherlearningthroughpracticehave not yet been conducted. Action research,in which teachersdocumentand analyzetheirown experiences, can be seen as one importantattemptto redressthis problem.

Hence, acrossthis incoherentandcobbled-togethernonsystem,structuredand unstructured,formal and informal, we have little sense-save the collective and negative self-reportsof generationsof teachersabouttraditionalin-service programs(Gall & Renchler, 1985; Guskey, n.d.; Showers, Joyce, & Bennett, 1987)-of what exactly it is that teacherslearn and by what mechanismsthat learningtakes place. What knowledge do teachersacquireacross these experiences? How does that knowledge improve their practice?These questions are left unanswered.

CONTEMPORARYBELIEFSABOUTEFFECTIVE PROFESSIONALDEVELOPMENT

Despite the lack of substantialempiricalevidence aboutwhat teacherslearn (ordo notlearn)in traditionapl rofessionaldevelopmentactivities,manyeducators

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Wilsonand Berne:An Examinationof Research 175

have embracedthe calls for a wholesale rejectionof the traditional,replacing the old with new images of meaningfulprofessionaldevelopment.Principlesfor designing such work aboundin the currentliterature.Little (1988) nominates the following featuresof effective staff development:(a) It ensurescollaboration adequateto producesharedunderstandings,haredinvestment,thoughtfuldevelopment,anda fair,rigoroustestof selectedideas;(b) it requirescollective participation in training and implementation;(c) it is focused on crucial problems of curriculumandinstruction;(d) it is conductedoften enough and long enough to ensureprogressivegainsin knowledge,skill, andconfidence;and(e) it is congruent with and contributesto professional habits and norms of collegiality and experimentation.

Abdal-Haqq(1995, p. 1) nominatesa similar set of characteristics,claiming thateffective professionaldevelopment

1. Is ongoing. 2. Includestraining,practice,andfeedback;opportunitiesforindividualreflec-

tion andgroupinquiryintopractice;andcoachingorotherfollow-upprocedures. 3. Is school based and embeddedin teacherwork. 4. Is collaborative,providingopportunitiesfor teachersto interactwith peers. 5. Focuses on studentlearning,which should,in part,guide assessmentof its effectiveness. 6. Encouragesand supportsschool-basedand teacherinitiatives. 7. Is rooted in the knowledge base for teaching. 8. Incorporatesconstructivistapproachesto teachingand learning. 9. Recognizes teachersas professionalsand adultlearners. 10. Provides adequatetime and follow-up support. 11. Is accessible and inclusive.

In her review of contemporaryrhetoricon professional development, Ball (1994, 1996) notes a handfulof prevalent"beliefs." Forexample, she notes that scholarscurrentlybelieve thatteachers'priorexperience,knowledge,andbeliefs factorinto teacherlearning:

Whateacherbsringtotheprocessof learningtoteachaffectswhattheylearnI. ncreasinglyte,achers' own personaland professionalhistories are thoughtto play an importantrole in determiningwhat they learn from professionaldevelopmentopportunities.(Ball, 1996, p. 501)

Ball goes on to argue that currentrhetoricabout professional development also pays close attentionto the studentsfor whom and the contexts in which teachingtakesplace: "The contextsin whichteachersworkarebelieved to affect what they can do." Time, reflection, and follow-up are also thought to be important:"The most effective professionaldevelopmentmodel is thoughtto involve follow-up activities, usually in the form of long-termsupport,coaching in teachers' classrooms, or ongoing interactionswith colleagues" (Ball, 1996, pp. 501-502).

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176 Reviewof Researchin Education,24

Other prevalentbeliefs include the idea that "teacher educators and staff developers should model the approachesthat they are promoting" and that teachersneed to own and controltheirprofessionaldevelopment:

Teacherdevelopmenist consideredespeciallyproductivwe henteacherasreinchargeof theagenda anddetermintehefocusandnaturoef theprogramminofgferedI. nthenameof professionalutonomy, manyarguethatteachershoulddeterminteheshapeandcourseof theirowndevelopmen(tB. all, 1996p, .502)

Noting the consistency across such lists, Putnamand Borko (1997) reduce the list to four essential "mantras"or "truisms":

1. Teachers should be treated as active learners who construct their own

understanding. 2. Teachersshouldbe empoweredand treatedas professionals. 3. Teachereducationmustbe situatedin classroompractice. 4. Teachereducatorsshouldtreatteachersas they expect teachersto treatstu-

dents.

These principlesand beliefs seem reasonable.Yet, we know as little about whatteacherslearnin these kinds of forumsas we do aboutwhatteacherslearn in traditionalstaff developmentand in-service. Ourreadinessto embracethese new principles may, in fact, be rooted in a desire to escape collective bad memories of drab professional development workshops ratherthan in sound empiricalwork. But replacingour old conceptionsof professionaldevelopment with new makes sense only if the new ideas areheld up for rigorousdiscussion and evaluation.New is not always right.

If preliminaryexaminationsof these lists yield less thancompellingevidence in theirsupport,it seems logical to delve deeperintorelevantresearchto investigate the following: Whatdo we knowaboutteacherlearning?Specifically,what do we know aboutthe professional knowledgeteachersacquirein such experiences? To narrowour focus here, we examine the learningof practicing(not preservice)teachers.Readersinterestedin reviews of the literatureof preservice teacherlearningmight examine the recentthoughtfuland comprehensivework of PutnamandBorko (Borko& Putnam,1996; Putnam& Borko, 1997), as well as that of Feiman-Nemserand her colleagues (Feiman-Nemser,1983; FeimanNemser & Buchmann,1985; Feiman-Nemser& Floden, 1986; Feiman-Nemser & Remillard,1995).

We began our task by reading widely. Our selection was guided by three principles. First, we opted to focus on high-qualityexamples of professional developmentand elicited nominationsof thoughtfulwork. We stipulatedthat each nominationhad to consist of a professionaldevelopmentprojectthat also had a clear commitmentto conductingresearch.Second, as Elmore, Peterson, and McCarthy(1996) claim, understandingteacherlearningincludes attending to both the curriculumand the pedagogy of professionaldevelopment,to what teacherslearnandhow teachersaretaught.Thus,we selectedprofessionaldevelopmentprojectsin which staff thoughtaboutboth the what andhow of teacher

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