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

Systemic Reform - October 1996

Theme 1: Teacher Capacity Is Multidimensional and Evolving

Teachers work most directly with students, so discussions of capacity often focus on what teachers need to know and be able to do. Early investigations of the knowledge base for teaching addressed propositional knowledge and procedural knowledge and skills. Consequently, discussions of staff development dealt with the content to be learned in workshops and the methods of skills training (e.g., Joyce and Showers, 1983). More recently, scholars have broadened their attention to other areas of teacher capacity. For the purposes of this analysis, we have divided these areas in four main categories: knowledge, skills, dispositions, and views of self.

Knowledge

Teachers' ability to assist students in learning is dependent on the teachers' own knowledge base. Theorists have subdivided the required knowledge into such areas as knowledge of the subject matter, knowledge of curriculum, knowledge about students, and knowledge about general and subject-specific pedagogy (e.g., Shulman, 1986). Research has documented the influence of such knowledge on instructional practice, including both teachers' explicit propositional knowledge and the more implicit understandings and beliefs they have developed in their experience as learners and teachers (Carpenter et al., 1989; Wilson and Wineberg, 1988). Recent studies have also shown that the more complex thinking and problem solving abilities set forth in the new student standards require teachers to have a deeper and more flexible knowledge base than is either required of basic skills approaches or developed in teachers' undergraduate, preservice, or inservice education (Ball and McDiarmid, 1990; McDiarmid, Ball and Anderson, 1989).

Respondents in this study also acknowledged the importance of teacher knowledge in carrying out the reforms, though the emphasis placed on such knowledge seemed to vary. There was some indication that respondents' perceptions of the depth and type of knowledge needed varied by the level of their own understanding of the change in instructional goals, by the subject matter discussed, or by their position in the system. Our data were not sufficient to arrive at firm conclusions about this variation, however.

The following comments are typical of the varieties of knowledge teachers and others mentioned as important:

I'd like to become more knowledgeable about this specific curricular content--this year it's world history, next year will be American history. I'm also teaching writing and literature, so I'm having to learn some new pieces of literature as well as recall the writing pieces.

We found that teachers have got to know the science content to really do this kind of teaching.... Also, we found a big gap between who taught math and who knew math...

We need knowledge about how students learn and develop skills. We are teaching to diverse backgrounds. This summer I will go to Michigan for a three week workshop on teaching science to diverse students.... In California there are also a number of diverse languages. You need to be knowledgeable about language and language acquisition when you become a teacher here.

I've thought about the CLAS testing because I know I'm sadly uninformed about what it is specifically.... And you can't prepare students for something you're not familiar with.

Skills

Knowledge of what and how to teach must of course be combined with the skill to do so. Earlier research on both generic and holistic teaching strategies revealed fairly robust relationships between teachers' pedagogical skills and student learning, as measured by traditional outcome measures (e.g., Brophy and Good, 1986; Rosenshine, 1987). More recently, researchers are beginning to establish links between the changes in pedagogy sought by the reforms and students' performance on the more complex problems and analytical tasks (e.g., Newmann, Marks, and Gamoran 1995).

But making the far-reaching changes in instruction called for by the reforms is far from easy. While skills and knowledge interact and develop together, researchers have demonstrated a considerable gap between what teachers know or believe they should be doing in the classroom and their ability to teach in the desired ways (e.g., EEPA, 1990). Respondents in this study also noted the gap, whether it was in curriculum development (like developing open-ended problems in mathematics or designing interdisciplinary projects and units), instructional strategies (like sheltering content for English language learners or expanding their repertoire of grouping strategies), or assessment (establishing and using performance standards for the evaluation of student work). A local union leader and teacher went so far as to describe the gap as the "Grand Canyon":

Another [barrier] is the conceptual differences between the old and new ways of doing things.... For some it's like they see the Grand Canyon they can see the other side but they don't know how to get there. They don't know what to do next, how to teach in new ways. And you can't just do it in the summer because you can't anticipate everything. It's much more massive than that.

Dispositions

In addition to knowledge and skills, enacting reform requires having the disposition to meet new standards for student learning and to make the necessary changes in practice (Katz and Raths, 1986; National Center for Research on Teacher Education, 1988). One important disposition involves teachers' attitudes towards the subject matter. Several respondents in this study, for example, remarked that because of their own love of literature, they welcomed the move toward literature-based reading instruction or the integration of English Language arts with social studies. Attitudes toward their students, expectations for student achievement, and attributions for student performance are also a critical component of teacher dispositions, particularly given the reform goals of high performance for all students.

But perhaps the dispositions most often mentioned as key by respondents in this study were teachers' commitment to student learning and their attitudes toward change.

We will have to come up with a way that can help teachers that are resistant to change not feel threatened, and to realize how it can be more beneficial and exciting to their teaching.

One barrier is the reluctance to change. There's been a significant amount of resistance at the middle school. Some of those who were very enthusiastic have been socially isolated by those opposed. But I'm hearing that a lot less now....There's also a fear of losing control--that if they make these changes they will no longer be in control of the kids. And if this is so, it becomes a threat to my job. If it gets too noisy in the classroom, people will be on the teacher's back for it.

The reluctance to change is a bigger factor than specifics of curriculum.

Compare the above comments with those of the middle school teacher below:

It's easy for me to adopt change. I'm always looking for change and I'm still in this school because there is always change. If it became static, I'd leave. A lot of people here are like that.

Views of Self

Studies of teachers' attempts to change their practice also suggest that the capacity to teach in different ways is connected to teachers' views of self, to their beliefs about their role in classroom activity, and to the persona they adopt in the classroom (Floden et al., in preparation). Also critical are teachers' views of themselves as learners, including what, where, and how they will learn.

The comments below demonstrate how two teachers see the connection between their views of themselves and their teaching:

I think I can learn from anything. For example, I went to a workshop last summer and some of the presentations were really poor, but I learned from negative example--I learned what not to do.... I also read like a crazy woman. And I'm writing--seeking to be published. I'm working on an autobiography and a novel. I go on sabbatical next year and I will spend some time trying to figure out how to pull some of that into the classroom.... So that's where I'm going. This year I'm not only a teacher of writers, I'm a writer too.

In science my main inspiration has come from the staff. I didn't have a lot of science or math as an African American. I had received an 'A' in algebra in high school but was never encouraged to take another math course and never encouraged to take any science. This is another reason I want kids to know what they are doing and why. I wasn't excluded (from math and science) but I just didn't know, I was unaware of what I needed to succeed. People here made me a believer I could do it.

While analytically distinguishable, these dimensions of capacity--knowledge, skills, dispositions, and views of self--are interdependent and interactive. For example, a strong commitment to improve student learning may lead one teacher to seek out the new knowledge and skills she needs, thus increasing her capacity. Indeed, this pattern was characteristic of many of the teachers in the reforming schools studied here. Meanwhile, another teacher who believes that some children simply cannot learn complex mathematics, for example, may not bring the full extent of her content knowledge to bear on instructing these children. Such a disposition, coupled with a more traditional approach to mathematical content, led one of our California middle school teachers to transfer at the end of the year to a local high school, where she could teach calculus and other advanced math to a more select group of students. Finally, changes along one dimension of capacity may produce unexpected changes in another. Consider, for example, Mrs. B, an elementary teacher in California who had participated in the California Writing Project some years earlier. While Mrs. B joined the workshop to develop her knowledge and skills about teaching writing, the experience also had a dramatic impact on her view of herself as a writer and on her overall development as a professional.

I did the Bay Area Writing Project five years ago--spent five weeks at Berkeley. Best thing I ever did! I'd always been a poor writer and I'd always thought it was because I'd had poor teaching. But I saw I could write. It opened doors for me and I became a good writer...

One last note: Our focus in this brief discussion has been on the dimensions of teacher capacity because we, like other observers, believe teachers to have the greatest and most direct impact on student learning. Yet the analytical frame described here might easily be applied to other participants in the educational enterprise, both inside and outside the system of schooling. Administrators, teacher educators, curriculum developers and others need knowledge and skills to carry out their roles in helping to ensure students can meet the challenging standards being articulated. Moreover, as Jane David argues in her paper commissioned for this study (David, 1993) the new standards for students require everyone in the educational system, not just teachers and students, to change their roles and relationships. As is true for teachers, this requires not only new knowledge and skills, but also positive dispositions about the need for and direction of change. It also requires a sense of themselves as learners who are capable of responding to the new conditions and goals and of performing their new roles.
-###-

[The Dimensions of Capacity] [Table of Contents] [Theme 2: Individual Capacity Interacts and Is Interdependent with Organizational Capacity]