School reformers are paying consid-erable attention to the role thateffective professional development

can play in improving the teaching ofmathematics and science. Significantcontributions on this question are repre-sented in national and state efforts todevelop standards to guide reform.Some national efforts, such as those bythe National Council of Teachers ofMathematics and the National ResearchCouncil, come from those who areinterested in improving particularsubject matter, as well as teaching andassessment. Other groups, such as theNational Staff Development Council, focus on professionaldevelopment itself.

The Professional Development Project of the National Institutefor Science Education set out to explore whether the science,mathematics, and professional development communities sharea common understanding of what effective professional learningexperiences look like, and how teacher development should benurtured. We examined a variety of standards and related mate-rials (NOTE: The materials reviewed for this brief are listedon page 4).

A Common VisionIn fact, a great deal of consensus was noted. Despite addressingthe question from separate perspectives and disciplines, the dif-ferent materials we reviewed largely reflect a common vision ofeffective professional development.

According to that shared vision, the bestprofessional development experiences forscience and mathematics educatorsinclude the following seven principles:

1. They are driven by a clear, well-definedimage of effective classroom learning andteaching. This image includes:

• A commitment to the concept that allchildren can and should learn scienceand mathematics.

• A sensitivity to the diverse learningneeds of individuals and people ofdifferent cultures, languages, races,and gender.

• An emphasis on inquiry-based learning,problem-solving, student investigation and discovery, andapplication of knowledge.

• An approach to the understanding of mathematical andscientific knowledge and skills that helps studentsconstruct new understandings, through experiences thatextend and challenge what they already know.

• Development of in-depth understanding of core conceptsin science and mathematic, not just breadth of coverage.

• Collaborative work.

• Clear outcomes, and assessment of progress toward themthat accurately reflects meaningful achievement.

2. They provide teachers with opportunities to develop knowl-edge and skills and broaden their teaching approaches, so theycan create better learning opportunities for students. Thisprocess includes:

Vol. 1, No. 1 • May 1996

Principles of Effective Professional Development forMathematics and Science Education: A Synthesis of Standards

by Susan Loucks-Horsley, Katherine Stiles and Peter Hewson

University of Wisconsin–Madison • National Center for Improving Science EducationFunded by the National Science Foundation

REPORTING ON ISSUES AND RESEARCH IN SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, ENGINEERING, AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION

BRIEF

Despite addressing the question

from separate perspectives and

disciplines, the different materials

we reviewed largely reflect a

common vision of effective

professional development.

2

• Engaging teachers in learning experiencesthat enhance their understanding of majorscience and mathematics concepts and ped-agogy. Teachers need deep, thorough knowl-edge of the disciplines they intend to teach.

• Strengthening teachers’ knowledge of howchildren learn. While deep, thorough knowl-edge of mathematics and science is veryimportant for teachers, it’s not enough.Good teachers also know how to listen tostudents’ ideas and pose questions that movethem further, to help them develop strongerconcepts. This requires a solid grasp of howstudents learn, and how curriculum andinstruction can be crafted to teach studentseffectively. Teachers need to know, for exam-ple, what difficulties students of a particularage might encounter in learning a new skillor concept, and what misconceptions theymight hold. They also need to be preparedto help students overcome their difficultiesand to unravel misconceptions. Educatorsrefer to this combination as “pedagogicalcontent knowledge.”

• Enabling them to make informed decisionsabout curriculum content and implementa-tion. Teachers need to learn how to integratea set of learning experiences into a courseof study, and how to create a culture ofongoing learning in their classrooms.

3. They use instructional methods to promotelearning for adults which mirror the methods to beused with students. Good learning opportunitiesfor teachers:

• Build on the teachers’ current science andmathematics knowledge, skills, and atti-tudes. Teaching teachers means having agood sense of where they are starting from,by clarifying their initial conceptions aboutscience and mathematics, so that enrich-ment activities will be appropriate for them.

• Allow teachers to construct their own knowl-edge through immersion in the scientific andmathematical processes. Teachers, like theirstudents, best learn science and mathematicsby doing science and mathematics, by inves-

tigating for themselves and building theirown understanding, as opposed to beingrequired to memorize knowledge that is“already known.”

• Provide teachers with opportunities to workin collaborative teams, to engage in dis-course about science, mathematics, teaching,and learning, and to observe the modeling ofrelevant, effective teaching strategies. Manyteachers find themselves unable to teach inthe ways that students learn best becausethey themselves have not experienced thattype of learning. Teachers need experiencewith strategies such as scientific inquiry,mathematical discourse, and learning coop-eratively if they are going to be able to usethose strategies with their students.

• Give science and mathematics teachers ade-quate and ongoing opportunities to develop,practice, and reflect upon new knowledgeand strategies. Deep learning takes time, andtakes place over time.

• Plan and design for structured, continuousopportunities for follow-up. Professionaldevelopment should provide science andmathematics teachers with a structure, andongoing support, for reflecting on theirlearning, getting feedback on the changesthey make, and continually analyzing andapplying what they learn.

• Unify the set of learning experiences througha comprehensive plan. Professional develop-ment is often experienced as a patchwork offragmented, one-time learning opportuni-ties, with limited potential to truly impactteaching and learning. Effective programsunite those experiences through a set ofgoals, strategies, and support over time.

4. They build or strengthen the learning commu-nity of science and mathematics teachers. In aneffective learning community:

• Collegiality and collaborative professionalexchanges are valued and promoted. Toooften, teaching is a lonely and insulated pro-fession. Teachers need to support each otherand enrich each other’s work. The school or

Teachers, like students,

best learn science and

mathematics by doing

science and mathematics,

by investigating for

themselves and building

their own understanding,

as opposed to being

required to memorize

what is “already known.”

department should, in turn, support that collaboration:for example, by encouraging science and mathematicsteachers to work together, to observe and coach eachother, to inquire together into questions of commoninterest, and to share what they learn from workshops,conferences, and other professional development opportu-nities they have attended elsewhere.

• Teachers are encouraged to take risks, and are providedopportunities for experimentation. They need to knowthat no one expects them to have all the answers justbecause they’re certified as science and/or mathematicsteachers, and that trying multiple times before experienc-ing success is a part of learning. They need to feel they aresupported in stretching their limits.

• Professional development is viewed as a lifelong processthat is part of the school norms and culture. Schoolsshould support the idea that everyone is always engaged inlearning, not just students, and that asking good questionsis at least as important as knowing the answers.

5. They prepare and support teachers to serve in leadership rolesif they are inclined to do so. As teachers master the skills of theirprofession, they need to be encouraged to step beyond theirclassrooms and play roles in the development of the wholeschool and beyond. Leadership support includes:

• Planning and implementing professional developmentopportunities for themselves and others. Teachers shouldbe key players in shaping that process, not just the targetsof professional development activities.

• Acting as agents of change. Everyone within a schoolshould be thinking about, and working for, reform. Theschool’s culture should reflect an expectation that teacherswill take on that broader mission. Teachers should haveopportunities to learn the knowledge and skills they willneed to be change agents, so they can work confidentlyand competently with others in all settings.

• Promoting a shared vision of science and mathematicseducation. Mathematics and science teachers must con-tinually ask: What is the function of this experience in thebroader context of a child’s education? Is there a commonunderstanding about the value of the experience by thechild, parents, and other teachers and community mem-

bers? How can I best promote a common understandingof the purpose of science and mathematics education?

• Supporting other teachers. Schools, districts and otherorganizations can create formal roles for teachers asmentors, coaches, lead teachers, study group facilitators,and resource teachers, and can prepare and encourageteachers to assume those roles by providing materials, staffdevelopment time, and other resources. These organiza-tions also can encourage teachers to support each otherin less formal ways, by engendering an atmosphere of coop-eration and providing time for them to work together.

6. They consciously provide links to other parts of the educa-tional system, by:

• Integrating professional development activities into otherinitiatives of the school or district. If, for example, aschool adopts a new set of science materials, the schoolneeds to decide what professional development experi-ences, supplemental materials, and other support teacherswill need in order to make them work.

• Aligning activities with curriculum frameworks, academicstandards, and assessment. Professional development canhelp teachers understand and apply the standards andinitiatives that come to them from other levels of theeducation system. Teachers can thereby make the most ofthe opportunities the new standards provide.

• Establishing active support within the school, district, andcommunity. Professional development, like teaching itself,cannot take place within a vacuum. Administrators,parents, and community members need to be aware ofprofessional development activities for teachers, and to beprovided with clear channels for providing input andassistance to teachers whenever possible and appropriate.

7. They include continuous assessment. Professional develop-ment programs must constantly be reviewed in order to:

• Determine participant satisfaction and engagement, andto make short-term adjustments. In the same way thatcontinuous formative assessment is imperative in scienceand mathematics classrooms, monitoring teacher experi-ences in professional development provides opportunitiesto constantly improve the impact of these activities.

3

Teachers need to know that no one expects them to have all the answers just because

they’re certified as science and/or mathematics teachers, and that trying multiple times

before experiencing success is a part of learning.

continued on page 5

4

Standards and Related Resources Reviewed for this Synthesis

Standards

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1991). Professional standardsfor teaching mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.

National Council ofTeachers of Mathematics. (1992). Curriculum and evaluation standards forschool mathematics. (5th ed.). Reston, VA: Author.

National Research Council. (1995). National science education standards.Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

National Staff Development Council. (1995). Standards for staffdevelopment–study guide: Elementary school edition. Oxford, OH: Author.

National Staff Development Council. (1995). Standards for staffdevelopment–study guide: High school edition. Oxford, OH: Author.

National Staff Development Council. (1995).Standards for staffdevelopment–study guide: Middle level edition. Oxford, OH: Author.

Related Resources

Corcoran, T. B. (1995, June). Helping teachers teach well: Transformingprofessional development (Policy Brief No. RB-16). New Brunswick, NJ:Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Consortium for Policy Researchin Education.

Loucks-Horsley, S., Brooks, J. G., Carlson, M. O., Kuerbis, P. J., Marsh, D.D., & Padilla, M. J. (1990). Developing and supporting teachers for scienceeducation in the middle years. Andover, MA: National Center for ImprovingScience Education.

Loucks-Horsley, S., Carlson, M. O., Brink, L. H., Horwitz, P., Marsh, D. D.,Pratt, H., Roy, K. R., & Worth, K. (1989). Developing and supporting teachersfor elementary school science education. Andover, MA: The National Center forImproving Science Education.

Loucks-Horsley, S., Harding, C. K., Arbuckle, M. A., Murray, L. B., Dubea,C., & Williams, M. K. (1987). Continuing to learn: A guidebook for teacherdevelopment. Andover, MA: The Regional Laboratory for EducationalImprovement of the Northeast and Islands.

Loucks-Horsley, S., Kapitan, R., Carlson, M. O., Kuerbis, P. J., Clark, R. C.,Melle, G. M., Sachse, T. P., & Walton, E. (1990). Elementary school sciencefor the ’90s. Andover, MA: The NETWORK, Inc.

National Center for Improving Science Education. (1993). Profiling teacherdevelopment programs: An approach to formative evaluation. Andover, MA:The NETWORK, Inc.

National Center for Improving Science Education. (1991). The high stakesof high school science. Washington, DC: Author.

U.S. Department of Education. (1995). Building bridges: The mission andprinciples of professional development. Washington, DC: Author.

Susan Loucks-Horsley is co-director of theProfessional Development Project of theNational Institute for Science Education,and a senior associate with WestEd.

Katherine Stiles is an associate withWestEd whose previous work as a teacherand school founder includes experiencewriting and implementing elementary-level science curriculum.

Peter Hewson is a professor of scienceeducation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on thelearning and teaching of science and theeducation of preservice and inserviceteachers.

• Evaluate the longer-term impact on teachereffectiveness, student learning, leadership,and the school community. Too manyresources are invested in professional devel-opment to ignore its impact over time.Identifying the full range of outcomesintended for professional development, andthen exploring the extent to which these areachieved, can contribute to the knowledgebase on professional development andimprove its design and implementation.

Policy Recommendations

To support this vision of effective professionaldevelopment, policymakers should consider

the following issues:

• Using these principles to determine whichprofessional development efforts should besupported and funded. For example, theprinciples can be used as criteria forEisenhower-funded initiatives, school-basedor district-based improvement projects, orplans for implementing technology. Plansthat extend over time and go beyond work-shops and institutes could be given priority.

• Improving preservice education programsfor science and mathematics teachers, tomodel the principles of effective teachingand learning. Coursework at colleges anduniversities, especially content courses in

science and mathematics, could model thekind of teaching that teachers are expectedto pursue with their students. Preservice pro-grams for administrators also could change,to help participants learn to build andsustain cultures of learning for the adults inschools as well as the students.

• Revamping recertification of teachers.Recertification could depend less on theamount of "seat-time" teachers log in coursesand inservice programs. Instead, science andmathematics teachers could be encouragedto pursue more meaningful learning oppor-tunities, such as periodically taking timeaway from teaching to perform scientificresearch. Teachers also could receive creditfor such activities as peer coaching, partici-pation in support groups, and engagementin professional networks.

• Creating time for professional development.Teachers need regular, scheduled blocks oftime for working and learning together. Itcould be considered legitimate for teachersto spend time away from students and per-forming these activities. This can be aided byattention to scheduling, staff assignments,and time allocations.

• Requiring people and work units responsiblefor curriculum or content issues to workclosely with those who are responsible forprofessional development. These two areasof responsibility, which today are oftenfunded and considered separately, must beseen as inexorably linked.

• Building an infrastructure that supportsongoing learning. This could include the

5

Effective professionaldevelopment meansbuilding a culture ofongoing learning for theadults in a school aswell as the students.

Just as continuous formative

assessment is imperative in science

and mathematics classrooms,

monitoring teacher experiences in

professional development provides

opportunities to constantly

improve them.

continued from page 3

NISE Brief StaffDirectors Denice Denton

Andrew PorterProject Manager Paula White

Editor Leon LynnEditorial Consultant Deborah Stewart

Graphic Designer Rhonda Dix

This Brief was supported by a cooperative agreement between the NationalScience Foundation and the University of Wisconsin-Madison(Cooperative Agreement No. RED-9452971). At UW-Madison, theNational Institute for Science Education is housed in the WisconsinCenter for Education Research and is a collaborative effort of the Collegeof Agricultural and Life Sciences, the School of Education, the College ofEngineering, and the College of Letters and Science. The collaborativeeffort also is joined by the National Center for Improving ScienceEducation in Washington, DC. Any opinions, findings or conclusionsherein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the viewsof the supporting agencies.

No copyright is claimed on the contents of the NISE Brief. In reproducingarticles, please use the following credit: “Reprinted with permission fromthe NISE Brief, published by the NISE, UW–Madison.” If you reprint,please send a copy to the NISE.

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creation of additional roles for teachers as providers ofmutual support, developers of curriculum and professionalstandards, and developers of licensing procedures.Teachers also could be active participants in major pro-jects, such as developing and scoring assessments andportfolios. These new roles for teachers could be createdat the school level as well as statewide and nationally.

• Modeling effective learning environments. Those whomake and oversee policy have special opportunities toinform people on issues, stimulate change, and monitorthe impact of changes made. These public figures couldemulate effective teaching and learning strategies byactively engaging people in learning over time, providingthe public with different kinds of support for that learn-ing process, and by seeking to capture the deepening andbroadening impact of their work. They can, in effect,"walk their talk."

• Requiring a strong evaluation component in professionaldevelopment efforts, including examination of bothshort-term and long-term impact. Are educators satisfiedwith their professional development experiences? Are theyacquiring new knowledge and skills, and changing theirpractice based on those experiences? Are their organiza-tions, by virtue of more collaborative cultures, better ableto meet new challenges, and to implement and sustainchanges? Are students learning mathematics and sciencebetter as a result? ❖

A Synthesis of Standardscontinued from page 5