Rural Research Brief High-Quality Teaching: Providing for Rural Teachers ’ Professional Development

of Education, under contract number ED-01-C0-0016. Its contents do not necessarily reflect the views of IES, the Department, or any other agency of the government. Policymakers and educators see professional development as a way to improve the quality of instruction in classrooms across the nation, but the empirical literature linking professional development to improved student achievement is extremely thin. Logically, though, it would seem that the right kinds of professional development would improve instruction, and that better instruction would result in higher student achievement. Very limited empirical evidence suggests that such linkages may exist. Quite a number of studies report that teachers believe professional development improves their teaching (Sandercock, 1996; Nadolny, 1999). A few studies— particularly case studies—report changes in teachers