Bridging the Gap: A School Based Staff Development Model that Bridges the Gap from Research to Practice
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Winter 2003
Abstract
Previous research suggests that without on going support teachers do not successfully implement instructional strategies learned during inservice training. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Research Lead Teacher model in providing support to general education teachers who were learning and implementing a strategy instruction process in their classrooms. Participants included 18, K-5 general education teachers. The Benchmark School's 15-step process of strategy instruction was delivered under two conditions. The first was a traditional $$ day inservice and the 2nd was the $$ day traditional inservice plus the RLT model which included an ongoing teacher study group, coaching, observation, and data based feedback. The design was a time series experiment with an intervention and a control group. The findings of this study suggest that a comprehensive school based staff development model such as the RLT model will assist general education teachers in fully implementing a strategy instruction process learned in a traditional inservice.