5.3 Program Evaluation
Candidates design and implement program evaluations to determine the overall effectiveness of professional learning on deepening teacher content knowledge, improving teacher pedagogical skills and/or increasing student learning. (PSC 5.3/ISTE 4c)
Candidates design and implement program evaluations to determine the overall effectiveness of professional learning on deepening teacher content knowledge, improving teacher pedagogical skills and/or increasing student learning. (PSC 5.3/ISTE 4c)
Reflection
This survey is called the End of Year Math, Literacy, Media, and Technology survey. Our instructional coaches (including myself and the media specialist) developed it to evaluate the effectiveness of professional learning programs in these areas. Teachers fill out the survey at the end of the year, and we use it to reflect on our program areas, make changes, and set goals for next year. I developed the technology section on my own, and I assisted the other areas in modifying some of their questions to generate more targeted data.
The development of these survey questions demonstrates my ability to use teacher input to determine the overall effectiveness of the technology professional learning program. Several of the questions focus on improvement of teacher skills and perceived impact on learning. Unfortunately, we don’t have a technology assessment for students or teachers that is aligned with the ISTE-S and ISTE-T standards that we have adopted, so it is difficult to accurately measure the impact of the professional learning program on teacher skill and student learning, but this survey serves as a valuable tool to analyze parts of the technology coaching and professional learning programs.
Although an ISTE-aligned assessment would be ideal, in its absence there are still several improvements I could make to this survey to gather more data to help determine the effectiveness of the technology coaching and professional learning programs. I would like to gather more qualitative data through interviews to help determine parts of the program that had the greatest impact in teacher’s minds. I would also like to solicit input and feedback on a more regular basis instead of one big end-of-year survey. I could do that through short formative assessments at the end of each professional learning or coaching session.
The work that went in to developing this survey helps teachers know that their opinions are valued and respected. I believe that it also serves to help teachers reflect on their professional learning throughout the year and to start thinking about goals for next year. We could assess the impact of the survey process on teachers’ practice by one-on-one interviews or a combination of interviews and short survey questions on the effectiveness of the tool.
The development of these survey questions demonstrates my ability to use teacher input to determine the overall effectiveness of the technology professional learning program. Several of the questions focus on improvement of teacher skills and perceived impact on learning. Unfortunately, we don’t have a technology assessment for students or teachers that is aligned with the ISTE-S and ISTE-T standards that we have adopted, so it is difficult to accurately measure the impact of the professional learning program on teacher skill and student learning, but this survey serves as a valuable tool to analyze parts of the technology coaching and professional learning programs.
Although an ISTE-aligned assessment would be ideal, in its absence there are still several improvements I could make to this survey to gather more data to help determine the effectiveness of the technology coaching and professional learning programs. I would like to gather more qualitative data through interviews to help determine parts of the program that had the greatest impact in teacher’s minds. I would also like to solicit input and feedback on a more regular basis instead of one big end-of-year survey. I could do that through short formative assessments at the end of each professional learning or coaching session.
The work that went in to developing this survey helps teachers know that their opinions are valued and respected. I believe that it also serves to help teachers reflect on their professional learning throughout the year and to start thinking about goals for next year. We could assess the impact of the survey process on teachers’ practice by one-on-one interviews or a combination of interviews and short survey questions on the effectiveness of the tool.