Education Commons^™

Teacher Outcomes Of An Intensive Stem-Focused Professional Learning Initiative: An Examination Of Their Beliefs, Practices, And Perceptions, Elizabeth L. Adams, Leanne R. Ketterlin-Geller, Caitlin T. Cox, Karen Pierce

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The purpose of this paper is to describe teacher outcomes from participating in an intensive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professional learning (PL) initiative for middle school science teachers in the United States. The initiative included intensive summer coursework and ongoing support (e.g., individual coaching, professional learning communities), and focused on enhancing teachers’ STEM instruction and their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), with the ultimate goal of improving student outcomes.

In this mixed method study, we examine change across time in teachers’ beliefs, use of STEM instruction, and PCK. In general, we did not observe statistically significant change in teachers’ …

Peer Observation To Improve Teacher Self-Efficacy, Bethany R. Mather, Jeremy D. Visone

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

This qualitative descriptive study explored teachers’ perceptions of a peer observation structure, collegial visits (CVs), and CVs’ connection to teacher self-efficacy (TSE). The research question was: How do teachers perceive CVs, particularly with respect to their influence on TSE? Semi-structured interviews and a focus group were utilized to collect data from 13 K–12 educators from urban and suburban public school districts in the United States. The theoretical foundation included Bandura’s social cognitive theory and the triadic reciprocal causation model. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data, and four themes emerged: (1) cultural drivers and effects of CVs; (2) impact …