Teacher perceptions of the efficacy of traditional staff development and the impact on student academic learning, 2005

This quantitative study examined teachers' perceptions of traditional staff development and the impact on student academic learning. This was a purposeful study that involved 143 teachers in a metro area school system in Atlanta Georgia. Surveys were distributed to five of the top performing schools in the district, and five of the low performing schools within in the same district. Performance rankings were determined by the CRCT reading scores of the fourth grade student population. A 61-question survey was used as the instrument to determine the relationships between the independent and dependent variables. The dependent variable of staff development was tested against nine independent variables that included: congruency with district goals, needs assessments, objective selection, and teaching strategies learned at staff development, follow up activities, presenter preparations, leadership support, teacher perceptions, and time factors. The data collected was analyzed using the SPSS system for analysis. The findings of this with respect to the Pearson Correlation showed that none of the independent variables had a significant relationship to the dependent variable student achievement; other factors were shown to have a greater impact