What Should We Consider in Teachers’ Professional Development Impact Studies? Based on the Conceptual Framework of Desimone

Abstract

Teacher professional development has long been of interest since it affects teachers’ learning, the practice of teaching, and student learning. In reality, as substantial resources have been spent on professional development, policy makers increase their search for evidence-based research about its effects on teachers’ and students’ outcomes. Therefore, it is imperative to use a solid framework evaluating professional development. Specifically, Desimone (2009) provides a comprehensive framework for evaluating the effect of professional development. Specifically, she represents that: 1) core features of effective professional development are content focused, active learning, coherence, duration, and collective participation; 2) the way this effective professional development affect teachers’ knowledge, their practice, and finally students’ learning; and 3) contextual factors such as student characteristics, teacher characteristics, and school characteristics are related to the effectiveness of professional development. Through this study, Desimone’s framework has been supported by both theoretical literature and empirical studies. Furthermore, some implications were provided for policy makers and school leaders as well as for teachers in Korea.