Improving instruction through schoolwide professional development: Effects of the data-on-enacted-curriculum model

have several common themes or components to their models: (a) a schoolwide improvement design that involves school leadership and most/all instructional staff; (b) an ongoing process for instructional improvement involving administrators and teachers, including time scheduled for staff to work together and time for teacher development of content knowledge Since the effective schools movement of the 1970s and '80s ERS Spectrum, Spring 2006 Improving Instruction through Schoolwide Professional Development 10 and subject-specific pedagogy; (c) structured activities for training staff to analyze data on student performance and data on the educational environment that explains performance differences; and (d) use of disaggregated data to identify learning problems and gaps between expected and actual performance and frequent use of data as a formative evaluation tool to guide instructional decisions and plans. These characteristics of schoolwide improvement models are also found in the designs for Comprehensive School Reform that were promoted and implemented starting in the 1990s and supported under Title I federal education funding Another type of application of data can now be added to the "data-driven" models for instructional improvement. The Data on Enacted Curriculum (DEC) model for improvement uses data on instructional practices and enacted curriculum taught in classrooms to offer educators an additional rich source of information to provide formative evaluation data and direct feedback to teachers. The model also guides leaders in planning and decisions about professional development and instructional improvement initiatives. A key feature of the model is the capacity to analyze gaps and weaknesses of instruction in relation to standards, assessments, and improvement goals. This paper reports on results from testing this school-based model for teacher professional development and instructional improvement. The DEC model is based on prior research and development of Porter, Smithson, and others Many of the recent data-driven models for instructional improvement focus on using achievement data. One recent model emphasizing instructional data is the lesson study model adapted from research with Japanese schools (Lewis, Perry, and Murata 2006) and the video-based instructional practices data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) research of Components of the DEC Model The DEC model for improving instruction begins with collecting and reporting data to teachers on their instructional practices and then organizing and delivering an 18-month process of training, technical assistance, and ongoing support to staff for improving instructional effectiveness based on their own school-level analyses. The DEC model is based on five advances in education research and development of data tools: (a) improved quality and efficiency of survey methods of data collection on instructional practices, both pedagogy and content (and ensuring validity); (b) research findings documenting the characteristics of effective professional development; (c) procedures for analyzing the content of curriculum materials, including content standards, assessments, and textbooks that provide the basis for measuring content alignment; (d) development of collaborative strategies for school staff to work together on raising student achievement; and (e) computer software programs that allow for analysis of complex instructional data and for graphic portrayals of survey practices data and content alignment data; these software-generated graphics provide a key vehicle for encouraging educator group analysis, reflection, and discussion of instructional improvement