Tinkering or Transforming: A New Paradigm for Professional Development for Teachers of Beginning Reading.

Suggesting that too often initiatives have been placed in schools without attention to the implementation process, this paper discusses a model used in a professional development program for teachers of beginning reading and then describes and documents how each feature of the model was addressed through development and implementation work. The paper does not specifically address the effects of this program on students and teachers, although evaluation data are used in describing the various features of the model. It begins by discussing the initiative, its funding source, and the context in which the initiative took place. The paper explains that the LEADERS (Literacy Project) is a 3-year multi-site effort funded by Eisenhower Grant and involving three universities and a large number of school districts across Pennsylvania. It states that what is important is what has been learned about the various dimensions of the initiative and their importance in the success of the endeavor. It notes that the plan for other papers is to address more comprehensively the effects of the initiative on teachers and students. (Contains 19 references.) (NKA) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Tinkering or Transforming: A New Paradigm for Professional Development PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION REOURCES (ERIC) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organizaiion originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. for Teachers of Beginning Reading Dr. Rita M. Bean Dr. Allison L. Swan Dr. Gregory A. Morris University of Pittsburgh Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA. April, 2002. 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Tinkering or Transforming: A New Paradigm for Professional Development for Teachers of Beginning Reading Recent concern about the numbers of struggling and poor readers has challenged schools and teachers to commit to the attainment of high standards for ALL students. Such a challenge requires teachers to be knowledgeable about what students need to know and be able to do in order to become successful readers. Teachers will need to know more "about their students, their subject matter, and the context of their work" (Lieberman & Miller, 2000). This challenge has also led to an increased emphasis on professional development for educators responsible for teaching reading. Much of this emphasis has been focused on the early grades, given research that supports early intervention (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). According to Snow, et al. (1998), teachers need support and guidance throughout their careers in order to maintain and update their knowledge and instructional skills. The Report from the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (1996) calls for stable, high-quality sources of professional development. This Report also calls for professional development that is long-term and systematic, one that moves beyond the "flavor of the month" workshop approach. For too long, professional development has been the wasteland of education (Little, 1993). Teachers have been introduced to, and sometimes bombarded with, information about new projects or activities that happen to be in "vogue" at the time, often before the innovation has been subjected to solid research about its effectiveness. Too often initiatives have been placed in schools without attention to the implementation process. Fullan (1991) talks about the "implementation dip", or initial difficulty with implementation, when teachers are introduced to ideas that may not be part of their repertoire. According to Joyce and Showers (1995), creating change in schools requires, "an extensive and potent staff development system, one far more powerful and pervasive than the one that exists..." (p. 5). Such a professional development program needs to build upon what has been learned from the past (Lieberman & Miller, 2000) and break from traditional forms. In other words, we must consider a new paradigm for professional development, one that promotes the transformation of teacher practices, rather than a model where teachers are introduced to various strategies and practices and asked to somehow fit those strategies into their current teaching practices. Work done by Ball and Cohen, (1999); Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin, (1995); Little, (1993); Loucks-Horsley, 1995; and Stein, Smith, and Silver, (2000) provide much useful information about professional development. They support professional development programs that include long term work with teachers in which there is collaboration among staff and opportunity for teachers to analyze and reflect on their own teaching practices. The standards of the National Staff Development Council (2001) call for attention to content, context, and process issues. Further, professional development efforts should build the leadership capacity of individuals and the collective faculty in the school to ensure the success of any change effort. This is especially true in the area of beginning literacy, given the importance of early reading success as a means of enhancing student performance in later grades. However, according to the Report of the National Reading Panel (2000), there are "significant gaps in our knowledge of teacher education and development across the board" (p. 5-14). The purpose of this paper is to discuss a model used in a professional development program for teachers of beginning reading and then to describe and document how we addressed each feature of the model in our work. In this paper, we do not specifically address the effects of this program on students and teachers, although we use evaluation data in describing the various