IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ucl/cepeow/22-02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Effective teacher professional development: new theory and a meta-analytic test

Author

Listed:
  • Sam Sims

    (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities)

  • Harry Fletcher-Wood

    (Ambition Institute)

  • Alison O'Mara-Eves

    (UCL Institute of Education)

  • Sarah Cottingham

    (Ambition Institute)

  • Claire Stansfield

    (UCL Institute of Education)

  • Josh Goodrich

    (StepLab)

  • Jo Van Herwegen

    (UCL Institute of Education)

  • Jake Anders

    (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities)

Abstract

Multiple meta-analyses have now documented small positive effects of teacher professional development (PD) on pupil test scores. However, the field lacks any validated explanatory account of what differentiates more from less effective in-service training. As a result, researchers have little in the way of advice for those tasked with designing or commissioning better PD. We set out to remedy this by developing a new theory of effective PD based on combinations of causally active components targeted at developing teachers' insights, goals, techniques, and practice. We test two important implications of the theory using a systematic review and meta-analysis of 104 randomised controlled trials, finding qualified support for our framework. While further research is required to test and refine the theory, we argue that it presents an important step forward in being able to offer actionable advice to those responsible for improving teacher PD.

Suggested Citation

  • Sam Sims & Harry Fletcher-Wood & Alison O'Mara-Eves & Sarah Cottingham & Claire Stansfield & Josh Goodrich & Jo Van Herwegen & Jake Anders, 2022. "Effective teacher professional development: new theory and a meta-analytic test," CEPEO Working Paper Series 22-02, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Jan 2022.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucl:cepeow:22-02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repec-cepeo.ucl.ac.uk/cepeow/cepeowp22-02.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2022
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jacob, Brian, 2017. "When evidence is not enough: Findings from a randomized evaluation of Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction (EBLI)," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 5-16.
    2. Helen Slater & Neil M. Davies & Simon Burgess, 2012. "Do Teachers Matter? Measuring the Variation in Teacher Effectiveness in England," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 74(5), pages 629-645, October.
    3. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2014. "Measuring the Impacts of Teachers II: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2633-2679, September.
    4. Irma Arteaga & Kathy Thornburg & Rajeev Darolia & Jacqueline Hawks, 2019. "Improving Teacher Practices With Children Under Five: Experimental Evidence From the Mississippi Buildings Blocks," Evaluation Review, , vol. 43(1-2), pages 41-76, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sam Sims & Harry Fletcher-Wood & Thomas Godfrey-Faussett & Peps Mccrea & Stefanie Meliss, 2023. "Modelling evidence-based practice in initial teacher training: causal effects on teachers' skills, knowledge and self-efficacy," CEPEO Working Paper Series 23-09, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Aug 2023.
    2. Sam Sims & Jake Anders & Matthew Inglis & Hugues Lortie-Forgues & Ben Styles & Ben Weidmann, 2023. "Experimental education research: rethinking why, how and when to use random assignment," CEPEO Working Paper Series 23-07, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Aug 2023.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Goel, Deepti & Barooah, Bidisha, 2018. "Drivers of Student Performance: Evidence from Higher Secondary Public Schools in Delhi," GLO Discussion Paper Series 231, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally & Martina Viarengo, 2018. "Changing How Literacy Is Taught: Evidence on Synthetic Phonics," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 217-241, May.
    3. Burgess, Simon & Metcalfe, Robert & Sadoff, Sally, 2021. "Understanding the response to financial and non-financial incentives in education: Field experimental evidence using high-stakes assessments," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    4. Rakshit, Sonali & Sahoo, Soham, 2023. "Biased teachers and gender gap in learning outcomes: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    5. Rosa Sanchis-Guarner & José Montalbán & Felix Weinhardt, 2021. "Home Broadband and Human Capital Formation," CESifo Working Paper Series 8846, CESifo.
    6. Gibbons, Stephen & Scrutinio, Vincenzo & Telhaj, Shqiponja, 2021. "Teacher turnover: Effects, mechanisms and organisational responses," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Azam, Mehtabul & Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi, 2015. "Assessing teacher quality in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 74-83.
    8. Gershenson, Seth, 2021. "Identifying and Producing Effective Teachers," IZA Discussion Papers 14096, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Yi Long & Chris Nyland & Russell Smyth, 2016. "Fiscal Decentralisation, the Knowledge Economy and School Teachers’ Wages in Urban China," Monash Economics Working Papers 13-16, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    10. Paula Armstrong, 2014. "The impact of teacher characteristics on student performance: An analysis using hierarchical linear modelling," Working Papers 25/2014, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    11. Murphy, Richard & Weinhardt, Felix & Wyness, Gill, 2021. "Who teaches the teachers? A RCT of peer-to-peer observation and feedback in 181 schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    12. Stephen B. Billings & Mark Hoekstra, 2019. "Schools, Neighborhoods, and the Long-Run Effect of Crime-Prone Peers," NBER Working Papers 25730, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. DeVolder, Russell & Serra-Sastre, Victoria & Zamora, Bernarda, 2020. "Examining the variation across acute trusts in patient delayed discharge," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(11), pages 1226-1232.
    14. Damgaard, Mette Trier & Nielsen, Helena Skyt, 2018. "Nudging in education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 313-342.
    15. Esteban Aucejo & Jonathan James, 2021. "The Path to College Education: The Role of Math and Verbal Skills," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(10), pages 2905-2946.
    16. Michael Geruso & Timothy J. Layton & Jacob Wallace, 2023. "What Difference Does a Health Plan Make? Evidence from Random Plan Assignment in Medicaid," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 341-379, July.
    17. Peter Leopold S. Bergman & Eric W. Chan & Adam Kapor, 2020. "Housing Search Frictions: Evidence from Detailed Search Data and a Field Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 8080, CESifo.
    18. Salman Asim & Stefan Dercon & Ravinder Gera Casley & Donna Harris, 2024. "Does Effective School Leadership Improve Student Progression and Test Scores? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Malawi," CSAE Working Paper Series 2024-05, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    19. Stacy, Brian, 2014. "Ranking Teachers when Teacher Value-Added is Heterogeneous Across Students," EconStor Preprints 104743, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    20. Michael Bates & Michael Dinerstein & Andrew C. Johnston & Isaac Sorkin, 2022. "Teacher Labor Market Equilibrium and Student Achievement," CESifo Working Paper Series 9551, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    professional development; teachers; theory; meta-analysis.;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucl:cepeow:22-02. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Jake Anders (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/epucluk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.