Teacher Education research

TEACHER EDUCATION: CON POSITION

John T. Guthrie

CON POSITIONAffirms that:Literacy researchers HAVE produced a base of knowledge that provides practitioners and policy makers with explicit guidance for improving literacy and literacy instruction.

LITERACY RESEARCHERS

Peer-reviewed journals carrying Teacher Education research:

RRQ, RTE, ESJ, JLREducation Evaluation and Policy

AnalysisTeaching and Teacher Education Journal of Teacher EducationTeacher Education Quarterly

BASE OF KNOWLEDGE: 3 PROPOSITIONS

1. Teacher Education impacts teachers’ literacy instruction practices:

IRA Commission’s study: Hoffman, Roller, Maloch, Sailors, Duffy, & Beretvas, ESJ

Quasi Experiment: 8 Excellent programs: 33 grads; 28 comparison students



Results: Excellent programs fostered literacy practices of:

Rich text environments High engagement with texts High levels of understanding Valuing texts



Review of 82 qualitative studies: Risko et al., RRQ

TE programs fostered “explicitness of teaching” (explanation, use of examples, modeling, practice in field settings)

Daily logs of 75,000 lessons; 1900 classrooms: Correnti, EEPA

Intensity of PD in literacy Extensiveness of literacy instruction



Early language and literacy centers: Neuman et al., American Education Research Journal

Randomized experiment: 291 sites in 4 cities

Course + coaching; Course; Control

Course + coaching had expansive, enriched literacy practices


2. Teacher Education impacts teachers’ beliefs about teaching and children:

Review of 82 qualitative studies: Risko et al., RRQBeliefs about students’

potentialsBeliefs about teacher efficacyKnowledge about textsKnowledge about strategies


3. Teacher Education impacts students’ achievement:

50-State survey of policies; National data base: Darling-Hammond, Education Policy Analysis Archives (electronic)

“Teacher quality” (certification, courses, field work) correlated with student reading achievement (NAEP Grade 4) at .75, after controlling for student poverty and language background.

States with high student achievement have a higher percentage of teachers with full certification than states with lower achievement.


3. Teacher Education impacts students’ achievement:

Comparing Traditional and Alternative Certifications in same schools—Darling-Hammond, 2009 from Mathematica, 2009

Teachers with more coursework in Traditional Certification had students with higher reading achievement gains than teachers with less coursework in Alternative Certification (who showed losses).

EXPLICIT GUIDANCE FROM RESEARCH

Explicit guidance refers to TE programs with high impact:

Vision, apprenticeship, personalize Hoffman, ESJ

“Learning and doing” Risko, RRQ

Courses with coaching Neuman, AERJ

EXPLICIT GUIDANCE FROM RESEARCH

Explicit guidance refers to : Case-based explanation

Risko, RRQ

Re-mediation of teaching via reflections from cognitive ethnographies of learning Gutierrez, JTE

Intensity of professional interaction Correnti, EEPA

AUDIENCES

Practitioners are teacher educators

---reached through professional trade books

Policy makers in State Departments of Education

---reached through task forces in 1970s-1990s

NEED IMPROVEMENT IN RESEARCH ?

Improvement in TE research is possible and necessary:Ethnic minority inclusion—

Lee, Educational ResearcherELL inclusion—

Jimenez, RRQAfrican American inclusion--

Morrell, RRQEngagement in literacies—

Guthrie, JLR

NEED IMPROVEMENT IN GUIDANCE ?

Improvement in TE guidance from research is possible and necessary:Quality of University programsAmount of professional

developmentNumber of courses in literacyDiversity of Faculties in literacy

education

RECOMMENDATION: EXPANDFoolish to ignore existing base of

knowledge, formulations of explicit guidance, connections to diverse audiences, and community of researchers in TE.

If you believe we have an existing knowledge base in Teacher Education that is communicated to teachers, you want to affirm the con position in this debate.