PD3: Opening Classroom Doors as a Vehicle for Change
Preliminary analyses of data from the sites suggest that what teachers discuss in their learning communities and how they discuss it changes over time. They begin to take on a more interpretive, as opposed to evaluative, stance toward classroom events occurring during research lessons or video excerpts or in their own teaching. They begin to ground their interpretations in evidence and gradually shift from giving anecdotal advice to seeking an understanding based upon evidence from student work, discussions and actions. Records and STEM observations of PD3 teachers in their schools and in project and school based activities show teachers are taking leadership roles in assuming responsibility for curriculum and for student learning for students in their classes and in their department.
Some of our initial data (in particular the state assessment data in Seattle and the pre-post test results from the summer camp in McAllen; data is just being collected about student achievement during the academic year following the summer camp experience) suggest that student learning is enhanced when the teachers have taken part in learning communities focused on this kind of public analysis of their individual teaching. One issue this raises is how to identify and separate other factors that may also contribute to this increased achievement.
