Supporting Large Scale Change in Science Education: Understanding Professional Development and Adoption Variation Related to the Revised Advanced Placement Curriculum (PD-RAP)

这项建议利用目前正在进行的大学先修课程的重新设计，以大规模自然实验的方式研究教师专业发展对学生成绩的影响。来自马萨诸塞州波士顿大学、哈佛大学、密歇根大学和教育发展中心的研究人员正在进行一项准实验研究，以考察AP生物、化学和物理教师的专业发展经历，以确定1）教师与学校特征的关系以及教师选择的专业发展模式; 2）不同类型的教师所选择的专业发展模式与其学生的成就之间的关系; 3）在这个规模上提供各种形式的专业发展所遇到的挑战。除了支持大学理事会改善AP教师的专业发展外，研究结果还有助于更广泛地了解专业发展与学生成绩之间的关系。本研究使用AP课程审计的现有背景，所有AP课程教师都提交了教学大纲、实验室调查描述、以及有关接触时间和教师背景的信息，包括所访问的专业发展方案。提交审核的教师将使用关注阶段问卷和其他项目进行调查，以确定他们对AP科学重新设计的看法。 在研究过程中，对20 000多名教师的经验进行了审查。参加由大学理事会和活跃的AP在线教师社区（APoTC）进行的AP专业发展的教师将接受有关其专业发展经验的调查。40使用访谈，详细的调查项目，并从他们的教学文物的案例研究提供有关AP课程的教师实施质量的信息。所有学生的AP考试成绩将与教师联系起来，并使用多水平回归分析来分析这些成绩与教师专业发展经验之间的关系，本研究的发现对那些为科学教师提供专业发展的个人具有相当重要的意义。研究结果将告知大学理事会和其他直接向AP科学教师提供专业发展的人，为了更有效地支持教师，这种支持需要如何改变。改善AP教师获得的支持有可能改善参加这些课程的学生的学习体验。此外，这项研究将提供有关问题和挑战的信息，提供专业发展的规模，以更广泛的专业发展提供者的观众。随着下一代科学标准的上线，这些信息将对政策制定者和实践者有用。

This proposal leverages the re-design of the Advanced Placement (AP) curricula currently under way to study the impact of teacher professional development on student achievement in a natural experiment at scale. Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Boston, Harvard University, the University of Michigan, and the Education Development Center, Inc are conducting a quasi-experimental research study to examine the professional development experienced by AP Biology, Chemistry and Physics teachers to determines 1) the relationship between teacher and school characteristics and the professional development patterns that teachers choose; 2) the relationship between the professional development patterns that various types of teachers choose and their students' outcomes; and 3) the challenges encountered in delivering various forms of professional development at this level of scale. In addition to supporting the improvment of professional development of AP teachers by the College Board, the findings contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between professional development and student achievement more generally.This study uses the existing context of the AP Course Audit by which all teachers of AP courses submit a syllabus, descriptions of laboratory investigations, and information regarding contact hours and the background of teachers, including the professional development programs accessed. The teachers who submit audits will be surveyed using the Stages of Concern Questionnaire together with other items to determine their perceptions of the AP Science redesign. The experiences of over 20,000 teachers are examined over the course of the study. Teachers who participate in AP professional development conducted by the College Board and the Active AP online Teacher Community (APoTC) will be surveyed about their professional development experiences. Case studies of 40 using interview, elaborated survey items, and artifacts from their teaching provide information about the quality of the teacher implementation of the AP course. Scores on the AP exams of all of the students will be linked to the teachers and the relationships among those scores and teacher professional development experiences analyzed using multi-level regression analyses.The findings from this study have considerable importance for those individuals who provide professional development for science teachers. The results will inform the College Board and others who provide professional development directly to AP science teachers about how that support needs to change in order to more effectively support teachers. Improving the support that AP teachers receive has the potential to improve the learning experiences of the students who participate in those classes. In addition, this study will provide information about issues and challenges to providing professional development at scale to a wider audience of professional development providers. As the Next Generation Science Standards come online, this information will be useful to policy makers and practitioners.