In search of a scientific basis for teacher preparation

Keywords: Teacher preparation; evidence-based practices; fidelity; teacher induction; coaching; professional development.. Key search words included: teacher preparation, evidence-base

564

In search of a scientific basis for teacher preparation

Robert A Gable*

Abstract: Statement of the Problem: There is growing pressure on school personnel to rely

on the use of evidence-based teaching practices Unfortunately, research indicates that few beginning teachers engage in evidence-based practices or do so across time Replacement

of the hodgepodge of flawed and ineffective strategies with those that are based on strong empirical support poses major challenges

Research Topic: A major challenge exists with regard to the reform of teacher preparation programs so that they reflect what is known about the science of teacher education In addition, once students graduate, ways must be found to promote the use of evidence-based practices with fidelity

General findings: First, based on a review of the literature, it appears that teacher educators should examine critically both the university curriculum and teaching practices to ensure they have strong empirical support Second, the need exists to alignment innovative university instruction with highly structured field-based experiences Third, it is important

to provide beginning teachers a systematic „induction‟ into the workplace to minimum the disconnect between university and K-12 classrooms Finally, there is mounting evidence that coaching represents a powerful tool for facilitating teacher implementation of evidence-based practices with fidelity

Keywords: Teacher preparation; evidence-based practices; fidelity; teacher induction;

coaching; professional development

Received: 18 th August 2016; Revised: 26 th October 2016; Accepted: 31 st October 2016

*

Public education in the United States

has long been based on an „egalitarian

philosophy‟ that supports a commitment to

providing for the greatest good for the

largest number of students (Gable 2014)

Even so, not all students have benefitted

equally from their schooling For that

reason, teacher education programs have

been the subject of ever-increasing scrutiny

(Scheeler 2008; Vernon-Dotson et al 2014)

Widespread concern over poor student

academic performance prompted the

Congress of the United States to enact two

major pieces of legislation-the Individuals

*

Old Dominion University, Norfolk VA USA;

email: regable@odu.edu

with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA 2004) and No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, both of which put a priority on the use of scientifically-based research to guide instructional decision-making In fact, NCLB included the phrase “scientifically-based” over 100 times In that legislation, scientifically-based research was described as research that involves the use of rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain reliable and valid information about education activities and programs Today, there is a rapidly growing body of empirical research on effective academic and nonacademic interventions (Simonsen et al 2008) (see Appendix A for a list of evidence-based

practices) Notwithstanding an increase in

the number of strategies of proven

effectiveness, a significant gap exists

between what is known about quality

instruction and most teacher classroom

practices Research documents the fact that,

after graduation, many teachers struggle to

implement evidence-based practices (EBPs),

while others abandon altogether attempts to

do so (Gable 2014; Sarason 1996)

One possible explanation is that

preservice preparation programs do not

always reflect sufficient rigor or depth of

preparation for preservice teachers to master

skills that are supported by empirical

research (U.S Department of Education

2002) Another reason may be the limited

structure of preservice field experiences and

the fact that there are significant contextual

differences between university and K-12

classrooms (Sarason 1996) Furthermore,

the impact of many EBPs is not always

obvious immediately, which can cause

teachers to become discouraged and to

discard practices that may have proven

effective across time (Gable 2014) Another

issue is the fact that the culture of most

schools is indifferent to the use of

evidence-based practices (Detrich 2011) Finally,

poorly prepared beginning teachers likely

find survival more pressing then using

teaching practices of which they have

limited knowledge

Given the mounting concern regarding

pupil performance, I sought (a) to identify

specific ways to improve the quality of

teacher education and (b) to begin to

establish a more scientific basis for teacher

preparation by drawing upon data-based

literature to guide the course of future

practices The assumption is that students

will benefit from enhancing the quality of

teacher preparation

1 Method

In an attempt to learn more about ways to bolster the quality of teacher education, I conducted an integrative review of the literature to discover what is known about teacher preparation I began the review by examining article titles and abstracts, focusing on articles published in peer-referred journals between 2000 and 2015 I included articles (a) for which the primary focus was teacher preparation and (b) articles that consisted of data-based or integrated reviews of the accumulated research I also included several textbook chapters that addressed issues regarding teacher education A mandate exists in U.S federal legislation to promote the inclusion

of students with disabilities in the general education curriculum For that reason, I looked at the special education literature as well I excluded articles that focused solely

on a single curricular area, monographs, non-governmental reports, and conference proceedings, and I limited my search to publications in English Key search words

included: teacher preparation,

evidence-based practices, teacher induction, mastery and fidelity of instruction, coaching, and professional development, and were applied

to electronic search engines-PsychINFO, Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), and EBSCOhost I also scanned reference lists of existing reviews and studies and did a hand search of professional journals that publish articles that correspond

to the keywords, including: Exceptional

Children, Review of Educational Research,

Teacher Education and Special Education,

The Teacher Educator, Remedial and Special Education, and Preventing School Failure

A qualitative synthesis of the reviewed literature revealed four overarching themes:

(a) the need to examine critically university

coursework and instructional practices, (b)

the importance of highly structured

field-based experiences, aligned with course

competencies (c) support for teacher

transition from university to workplace, and

(d), ongoing teacher support in the

classroom

2 Results

Failure of traditional teacher education

Given the criticism of traditional preparation

programs and the results of the present

review, the need exists for teacher educators

to examine critically current curricular and

instructional practices to ensure a

„goodness-of-fit‟ with an emerging science

of teacher education (U.S Department of

Education 2002) Competencies identified

by the International Council for Exceptional

Children (2015) provide a framework for

developing coursework Competences are

clustered around knowledge and skill

groups, according to initial and advanced

preparation that easily can be translated into

specific courses that include: theory, survey,

methods, and field-based experiences

Actual skill selection commonly is

predicated on „high-probability‟ classroom

demands, meaning skills that all teachers

will need to be successful, skills in the areas

of: planning, assessment, management,

instruction, and collaboration

There is an increasing database to

support the assertion that lecture-based

instruction in which preservice teachers are

passive recipients fails to lead to skill

mastery or transfer of learning to applied

settings (Joyce et al 2002) Recent studies

suggest that teacher educators must engage

students as active participants in the

teaching and learning process (Detrich

2011) Research indicates that preservice

teachers must be afforded repeated opportunities to observe the modeling of discrete skills, put those skills into practice, and receive feedback regarding their performance (Detrick 2011; Keyworth 2013)

Israel, Carnahan, Snyder, and Williamson posited that teachers do not learn from experience; “they learn in experience” (2012:197) The present review revealed that, in the United States, there is increased importance being attached to learning through practice (Henning et al 2015) Traditional course lectures are being supplanted by case-based learning consisting of vignettes that reflect actual classroom situations Students often collaborate with a classmate to complete assignments within and across courses Faculty members evaluate student performance by meaning of rubrics that reflect sound decision-making and quality instruction Students are asked to critique their own work to develop critical thinking skills Other emerging strategies include the use of video modeling of evidence-based practices applied to scenarios of situations teachers likely will face (Dicker et al 2009)

In addition, there are modules developed by the IRIS Center at Peabody/Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN The IRIS Center website contains both interactive modules and webinars that have been judged independently to reflect evidence-based practices

Leko, Brownell, Sindelar, and Murphy (2012) urged teacher educators to establish a strong link between university-based coursework and highly structured field experiences that require preservice teachers

to demonstrate discrete course competencies (Utley 2009) This fundamental change in teacher preparation may necessitate that teacher preparation programs focus on a

modest number of carefully selected

strategies (Leko et al 2012) Based on the

current review, it appears that depth of

preparation should take precedence over

breath of preparation to ensure that

preservice teachers demonstrate mastery of

specific skills Skill selection often is based

on ease of implementation, probability of

positive outcomes (effect size of 40 or

higher), and an understanding of the

challenges teachers will face in the

classroom

Fidelity of classroom instruction

Preservice preparation programs often fail to

produce teachers who rely on

evidence-based practices or implement them with

fidelity (Keyworth 2013) Fidelity refers to

the degree to which an intervention is

implemented in accordance with the original

plan (O‟Donnell 2008; McKenna et ak

2014) Research shows that there is a

positive correlation between fidelity of

implementation of evidence-based practices

and student achievement (Sanetti et ak

2012) Conversely, teacher failure to engage

fully and consistently in proven effective

practices is likely to have a deleterious

effect on student outcomes (Kretlow et al

2010)

According to the literature reviewed, the

fidelity of implementation can be monitored

in various ways: checklists, behavior rating

scales, matrices, videotaping of lessons,

direct observation, and/or teacher

self-reports (Lane et al 2004; McKenna et al

2014) Authorities have asserted that fidelity

should be evaluated as often as is the impact

of a particular intervention Failure to do so

makes it impossible to distinguish between

an ill-conceived intervention and one that is

poorly implemented

In further examining evidence-based

practices, it appears that preservice teachers

should be prepared to: (a) determine for

whom a particular practice is evidence-based (i.e., what population of students), (b) how often („dosage‟) the practice should be implemented, (c) how long it should be implemented, and (d) the necessary and sufficient steps to ensure delivery of the intervention as it was designed (fidelity) (Gable 2014) Once a strategy is in place, teachers must be capable of measuring directly and systematically its impact on pupil performance Based on that analysis, teachers should be prepared to make timely adjustments in one or more aspects of instruction (Vaughn et al 2015)

Teacher induction Several authors argued that a major aspect of preservice preparation that often is overlooked is preservice teacher support in applied settings (i.e., field-based experiences and student teaching) (Kretlow et al 2010; Scheeler 2008) Not surprisingly, in many instances, a disconnect exists between preservice teacher preparation and the realities of the classroom Maheady and Jabot (2012) reported that teacher induction represents a promising approach to bridging that gap and supporting teacher entry into the classroom The terms teacher induction and mentoring often are viewed as synonymous; however, they refer to two distant ways to support teachers That is, induction relates to those practices that enable beginning teachers to become effective classroom teachers; whereas, mentoring pertains to 1-1 support provided

by more experienced teachers to beginning teachers (Maheady et al 2012) Maheady and Jabot (2012) asserted that induction should be aligned with evidence-based practices, coupled with in-class support, in the form of real time side-by-side coaching According to Maheady and Jabot (2012), the integration of empirically-supported practices and quality professional

development represents a potentially

effective approach to improving

classroom-level and school-wide educational practices

Coaching of teachers in the workplace

According to the literature, there is growing

interest in the use of coaching to support

teacher use of evidence-based practices

(Keyworth 2013; Scheeler 2008) The

purpose of coaching is to facilitate the

accurate and consistent implementation of

teaching strategies that lead to positive

changes in pupil performance (Detrich 2011;

Kretlow et al 2010) Kretlow and

Bartholomew (2010) reviewed the extant

literature to determine the likely impact of

coaching on the fidelity with which teachers

implemented evidence-based practices They

identified two forms of

coaching-supervisory and side-by-side coaching

Supervisory coaching refers to coaching that

consists of peer observation and highly

structured feedback that usually occurs after

the fact; whereas, side-by-side coaching

involves the additional step of co-teaching

to afford the teacher an opportunity to

observe and to practice a particular strategy

According to Kretlow and Bartholomew,

side-by-side coaching increases the rate of

skill acquisition, accuracy of

implementation, and the maintenance of

positive teacher behavior more so than

supervisory coaching

Kretlow and Bartholomew (2010)

maintained that modeling of discrete

evidence-based practices, along with the

opportunity for a teacher to emulate the

modeled behavior and obtain performance

feedback are essential components of the

coaching process Indeed, there is ample

research to support the positive impact of

performance feedback on teacher

performance Feedback may include

descriptive praise for correct strategy

implementation, corrective feedback on

strategies used incorrectly, and responses to any questions that arise Feedback should be individualized to match the demands of a particular classroom, including student strengths and weaknesses and available resources (Cook et al 2003) Feedback can

be enhanced through the use of graphs that reflect discrete teacher behavior, such as the use of precise praise statements Cook and his colleagues stated that direct classroom observation is critical to effective coaching since it affords an opportunity for the coach

to assess directly teacher behavior Coaching sessions should be of sufficient frequency and duration and include enough opportunities to practice a strategy for teachers to achieve skill mastery (Han et al 2005) based on documented changes in both teacher and pupil behavior (Detrich 2011)

Limitations to coaching Drawing from

the present review, it is reasonable to conclude that coaching represents a highly resource demanding and time intensive undertaking Coaching requires either release time for a building-level staff member or an outside professional That said, coaching may not be a realistic solution to supporting all beginning classroom teachers One alternative that holds promise is the use of e-mentoring, electronic feedback at a predetermined time each day or week (Hunt et al 2013) That feedback may pertain to written plans of instruction or audio and/or video clips of classroom instruction Researchers have indicated that e-mentoring can increase a beginning teacher‟s sense of self-efficiency Equally significant is the fact that e-mentoring can be delivered to a number of teachers simultaneously E-mentoring can reduce feelings of professional isolation experienced by many beginning teachers, especially in more rural areas (Hunt et al 2013; Scheeler 2008) It also can decrease

the temptation to abandon effects to engage

in evidence-based practices Finally,

building-level teachers can establish a

„professional learning community‟ (PLC)

dedicated to exploring classroom strategies

drawn from the literature on evidence-based

practices (Hord 2009) Use of a PLC can be

enhanced when teachers self-monitor their

subsequent use of a particular strategy

(Kalis et al 2007)

Professional development to support

in-service teachers Once teachers receive their

initial preparation, professional development

may be needed to reach a high level of

fidelity and sustainability of implementation

of evidence-based practices According to

Kretlow, Cooke, and Wood (2012), quality

professional development constitutes a

powerful tool to bridge between research

and practice Joyce and Showers (2003)

argued that quality professional

development enables teachers to acquire

new skills and to transfer these skills into

practice, assuming there are adjustments in

the kind and amount of training based on the

complexity of the skill set Seminal

research by Joyce and Showers (2003)

identified four components they deemed

essential to successful training: (a) a strong

rationale for the use of new skills, (b)

modeling of the new skills, (c) practicing the

skills across time, and lastly, (d) peer

coaching Joyce and Showers (2003) stress

that all four components are necessary to

achieve successful outcomes, with coaching

being essential for promoting the transfer

and retention of evidence-based practices

According to Desimone (2009:2011),

there are five components that together

comprise effective professional

development They include: content focus

(i.e., subject matter), active learning (i.e.,

engaging activities, such as interactive

feedback), coherence (i.e., consistent with

teachers‟ knowledge and beliefs), duration (i.e., distributed across a sufficient amount

of contact time), and collective participation (i.e., teacher learning communities that promote interaction and discourse) Professional development includes classroom strategies whereby teachers learn

to collect and analysis routinely student performance data (Leko et al 2009) and make timely decisions about adjustments in instruction Schools can partner with local colleges or universities to offer professional development or call on experienced classroom teachers to share their expertise

3 Discussion

There is a growing body of literature to support the assertion that evidence-based practices have the potential to increase the impact of research on daily classroom instruction which, in turn, can have a positive influence on student outcomes (Cook et al 2013) It follows that the “gold standard” of teacher education should be the preparation of preservice teachers to produce positive, predictable, and long-term changes in pupil performance To do so, teacher educators are required to embrace what is known about the science of teacher preparation In that traditional teacher preparation programs have not always prepared adequately teachers to enter the workplace, it is essential (a) to increase our understanding of what constitutes an evidence-based practice, (b) to provide quality preparation that actively engages students in the teaching/learning process, (c)

to develop effective strategies to facilitate the transfer of training to applied settings, and (d) to find ways to reinforce the implementation of evidence-based practices, with fidelity across time (Detrich 2011; Joyce et al 2003; Keyworth 2013; Gable 2014)

Once teachers are trained to a high

standard, ongoing professional development,

coupled with the use of coaching can boost

the fidelity of teacher implementation of

evidence-based practices At the in-service

level, teachers should receive direct and

systematic instruction from experts in the

field, the content of which is derived from

empirical research They also should receive

coaching and timely performance feedback

from skilled professionals Today, coaching

is an increasingly popular strategy for

facilitating accurate and consistent teacher

implementation of proven-effective

practices with fidelity (Keyworth 2013;

Rock et al 2009; Scheeler 2008) However,

further research is needed to identify the

kind and amount of coaching that is optimal

for promoting positive changes in pupil

performance Furthermore, researchers have

yet to identify the most parsimonious

approach to coaching to attain fidelity and

sustainability of evidence-based practices

(Kretlow et al 2010) From a broader

perspective, it seems important to recognize

that, regardless of the amount of supporting

research, not every strategy will be effective

for every student (Cook et al 2011) And,

the existence of an evidence-based practice

is one thing, “implementation of that

practice is another thing altogether” (Fixsen,

et ak 2009:5)

4 Conclusion

In the end, the goal of teacher

preparation programs should be to prepare

graduates to exercise sound professional

judgment in choosing evidence-based

practices that align with the diverse

instructional needs of their students To the

extent that a host environment can be

established in which teachers are able to

improve student outcomes-based on routine

data collection and analysis and receive positive feedback, the probability increases that they will continue to engage in proven effective practices (Cook et al 2003; Gable 2014) Furthermore, the success teachers experience helps them to avoid the temptation to „give up‟ prematurely on a particular strategy (Han et al 2005) However, based on the current review of the literature, it appears that any large-scale implementation of evidence-based practices will depend on the extent to which preservice teachers receive high-quality preparation and, upon entering the classroom, ongoing systematic support Given the rapidity with which new practices are becoming available, teacher educators and classroom practitioners must

be critical consumers of the professional literature It is essential to draw upon that literature and other reliable sources (U.S Department of Education 2003), and work tirelessly to achieve the best possible outcomes for all students At the same time,

it is important to recognize that the setting itself has an influence on what works and what does not work Finally, it is incumbent upon educational leaders to establish a climate that supports „evidence-based practices‟ and reinforces teacher implementation of intervention strategies that are proven effective (Cook et al 2003) Drawing upon the results of the current review, I offer the following recommendations that I believe are equally applicable to teacher preparation programs

in the United States and in Vietnam:

1 Ensure that the curriculum of teacher preparation reflects the most current knowledge of „evidence-based‟ practices;

2 Ensure that teachers-in-training have multiple opportunities to observe directly, engage in repeatedly, and

receive instructional feedback on the

most valid „evidence-based‟ practices

for future classroom instruction;

3 Ensure that supervised field

experiences are clearly aligned with

and reflect the major objectives of

university instruction;

4 Establish an „induction process‟ to

transition systematically students

from the university to instructional

environments where there is

administrative support of

evidence-based practices; and

5 Establish systems of support that

include ongoing professional

development and individualized

coaching that is responsive to the

varying needs of novice teachers

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Appendix a

1 Contracting-a written agreement

negotiated and signed by the teacher and

student (and parent) that indicates a desired

behavior and the consequences of that

behavior; contracts are relatively effective if

there is a performance deficit (can do but

unresponsive) rather than skill deficit (Can‟t

perform the behavior) In some cases,

contracting alone is not powerful enough to

change behavior Direct instruction

regarding the desired behavior also may be

necessary

2 Differential reinforcement of

incompatible behaviors (DRI)-a procedure

in which the teacher reinforces a response

that is „topographically‟ incompatible with a

behavior targeted for reduction A student

cannot be both in-seat and out-of-seat at the

same time

3 Modeling-a teacher demonstrates for a

student appropriate examples of a particular

skill Each skill is broken down into

component behavioral steps and taught

separately The power of modeling hinges

on the observed consequences of the

behavior The teacher may also demonstrate

non-examples of the behavior, to teach the

student to distinguish between „acceptable‟

and „unacceptable‟ behavior

4 Peer-mediated intervention-an

intervention that requires a peer, rather than

an adult, to assume responsibility for

conducting an intervention In many cases,

students prefer peer-mediated intervention

to adult-controlled interventions and the

effects may be more lasting Peer-mediated

intervention has been shown to be effective for promoting both academic and social skills, at the classroom-wide level and the individual intervention level

5 Planned ignoring-the withdrawal of social reinforcers (e.g., eye contact, smiles) for the length of the time-out period Planned ignoring is an extinction strategy that is effective only to the extent that adult behavior serves as a reinforcer to the student

6 Self-control-techniques taught to students to manage independently their own behavior and may include: self-evaluation, instruction, monitoring, or self-reinforcement procedures Self-control training may include: teaching students to recognize internal factors (e.g., physical signs of agitation or emotional arousal) and/or external factors (e.g., being pushed, obscene gestures, being called a name) that are likely to provoke an angry pupil response

7 Group contingency management- contingency management options that are applied to multiple students who have been assigned to teams; options include: group dependent (“hero”) arrangement whereby reinforcement depends on the performance

of a single student; group interdependent arrangement whereby reinforcement depends on the overall performance of a group of students (sub-group or team); and group independent arrangement whereby students are individually judged regarding their behavior

8 Choice making -giving students fixed choices from an individualized list or menu, such as: which assignment to complete first, where to sit, to work alone or with a classmate, can increase task engagement and productivity and reduce behavior problems

by giving students a measure of control of their environment