ERIC Number: EJ1101917
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1551-0670
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Investigating Rural Teachers' Professional Development, Instructional Knowledge, and Classroom Practice
Glover, Todd A.; Nugent, Gwen C.; Chumney, Frances L.; Ihlo, Tanya; Shapiro, Edward S.; Guard, Kirra; Koziol, Natalie; Bovaird, Jim
Journal of Research in Rural Education, v31 n3 2016
Teachers Speak was a national survey study designed to investigate the characteristics of rural elementary school teachers' existing professional development; differences in professional development practices between rural and non-rural settings; and the potential influence of professional development characteristics on rural teachers' knowledge, perceptions, and instructional practice. The respondents included 268 rural and 327 non-rural (city, suburban, town) teachers whose schools were selected via stratified random sampling. Key findings indicate that professional development experiences, perceptions, and classroom practices were similar for rural and non-rural teachers. Rural teachers did not appear to be comparatively disadvantaged, at least not in terms of their best professional development experiences. They reported comparable characteristics for professional development (e.g., providers, hours, practice and feedback opportunities, collaboration opportunities). An emphasis on topics during professional development was found to be related to increased (a) positive perceptions of the utility of the topics, (b) perceptions of knowledge gained pertaining to those topics, and (c) increased focus on those topics during classroom instruction. Perceived utility of instructional topics was a significant predictor of reported practice. When including both rural and non-rural teachers, time in professional development was found to be a significant predictor of their pedagogical content knowledge.
Descriptors: Elementary School Teachers, Rural Schools, Rural Education, Professional Development, National Surveys, Teacher Surveys, Educational Practices, Predictor Variables, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Teacher Attitudes, Path Analysis, Regression (Statistics)
Penn State University College of Education, Center on Rural Education and Communities. 310B Rackley Building, University Park, PA 16802. Tel: 814-863-2031; Web site: http://www.jrre.psu.edu/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: N/A
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305C090022
Author Affiliations: N/A