A transformative staff development process for teacher change and school improvement

Exemplary staff development programs promote organizational change and support improvement of student learning through enhancing teacher competency in planning and delivering instruction, strengthening administrator skills, and familiarizing all personnel with research-based practices that increase effective learning by all students. This research study examined the efficacy of a staff development process designed to enhance classroom instruction and extend school site capacity building efforts.

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to identify the components of staff development programs that are necessary to establishing teacher change and school improvement, and (2) to analyze the relationships between those components and the transfer of learning outcomes at the school/classroom site.

A research-based model was proposed that identified four requisite components for the transfer and integration of staff development learning into school/classroom practice. The four components are (1) collaborative decision-making and planning, (2) a defined inservice program delivery, (3) assured funding and support, and (4) transfer of inservice learning approaches.

A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed randomly to educators, from six counties in southern California, participating in staff development programs varying from less than one-year to three-years in duration. Data was collected from 275 respondents, addressing the four components of the staff development process. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, and correlational and multivariate analysis--i.e., correlations, regressions, factoring, and path analysis.

The results suggest that the degree to which educators participated in the four selected components of the staff development process is related to positive outcomes in the implementation of staff development learning at the school site. Further, the results indicate that an effective delivery is a necessary condition to facilitating the use of learning in the classroom, and that collaborative decision-making and planning drives inservice delivery.

The overall findings of this research are that implementation of a transformative staff development process involves collaborative decision-making, a defined inservice delivery promoting cognitive understanding and acquisition of teaching methods, enabling fiscal and support resources, and extensive transfer of learning approaches--all of which have positive effects on teacher change and school effectiveness.