Form and Substance in Mathematics and Science Professional Development

Much of the reform rhetoric about professional development is geared toward the form that such development should take. This literature advocates collaboration among teachers, schoolwide participation in professional development, programs that extend over time and are interspersed with classroom practice, programs that include classroom visitations, and so forth. Much less has been said about what the content of such programs should be. This paper reviews studies of inservice programs that aim to enhance mathematics and science teaching. It focuses exclusively on studies that examine effects of programs on student learning. The review suggests that the differences among programs that mattered most were differences in the content that was actually provided to teachers, not difference in program forms or structures.

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