A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Designing Effective Development: Lessons from the Eisenhower Program - December 1999

Chapter 4

Summary and Conclusions

In this chapter, we examined how district portfolios of Eisenhower-assisted activities vary according to subject area focus, quality?as measured by the structural and core features of the activities, strategies for targeting and recruiting teachers for participation, and how these differences are accounted for by district poverty and district size. We identified a number of patterns that have implications for the Eisenhower program.

First, we found that nearly all districts use Eisenhower funds to support professional development in mathematics and science. These funds appear to have played an important role in supporting content knowledge in these subject areas in some districts, and fostering content knowledge is critical for teaching and learning. Continuing the subject area focus of Eisenhower-assisted professional development activities would allow the program to continue its important contribution in this area of professional development.

Second, we found that nearly all districts use Eisenhower funds to support traditional approaches to professional development activities that are not "sustained" or "intensive," as intended by the Eisenhower legislation. Even among districts that support reform types of professional development activities generally, many do not use Eisenhower funds to do so. Nevertheless, the fact that some districts manage to use Eisenhower funds almost exclusively for professional development activities that have features of high quality indicates that the program could perhaps do more to increase the number of districts using their Eisenhower funds in optimal ways. Along these lines, our findings suggest that since either reform or traditional activities can offer characteristics of high-quality professional development, it is more important for districts to focus on improvements in the structure and substance of the activities, rather than the particular type of activity.

Third, despite an emphasis on recruiting teachers from high-poverty schools, and other teachers of at-risk students, such teachers appear to participate in Eisenhower-assisted activities in numbers only somewhat greater than their proportions in the population. If targeting of professional development activities is an important goal of the Eisenhower program, districts may wish to rely less on teachers volunteering as the primary way teachers come to participate in Eisenhower-assisted activities. One alternative that could increase the impact of professional development is targeting certain schools and requiring all teachers to participate in the same professional development activity, although this may not be possible in some districts.

Finally, our data indicate that high-poverty districts, and large districts and consortia, often are more able and willing to support a diverse and extensive set of Eisenhower-funded activities than other districts. A greater amount of funding goes to such districts, but this alone does not fully explain the results. Perhaps larger districts have greater capacity, and higher poverty large districts see the greater need to provide new and more ambitious forms of professional development.

Thus, this chapter has identified areas in which districts need to focus in order to bring Eisenhower-assisted activities more in line with the intent of the legislation. But the Eisenhower legislation already contains provisions that intend to move districts toward higher quality professional development activities. By requiring that districts align Eisenhower-assisted professional development activities with state and district standards, coordinate these activities with those funded by other federal programs, and plan and evaluate professional development activities, the legislation intends to foster high-quality professional development.

In the next chapter we examine these aspects of the district-level management and implementation of Eisenhower-assisted professional development activities. We examine how school districts align, coordinate, plan, and evaluate their activities, and how district context (i.e., size and poverty) is associated with these district operations. In addition, we present a model of how district management and implementation is associated with features of its "portfolio" of Eisenhower-assisted professional development activities, including structural and core features that are associated with improvements in teacher knowledge and skills and changes in teacher practice. The goal of the next chapter is to identify and describe key factors in how districts manage and implement the program, and relate these to the district?s use of Eisenhower funds to support high-quality professional development.

[Differences in District Portfolios of Eisenhower-Assisted Activities by District Poverty and Size]

[Chapter 5 - District Management of Eisenhower-Assisted Professional Development Activities]