Professional Development Effects on Teachers' Self-Regulated Learning

“New pedagogies” (Fullan, 2013) require that teachers and leaders of learning develop a cadre of efficient strategies for helping students learn by applying best practices from the learning sciences to the professional practices of educators. Providing learners with meaningful opportunities that support the acquisition of deeper learning skills requires instructional leaders to support educators in refining their practices. New pedagogy, however, requires new ways of thinking about training, and development both in policy and in practice. In order to move students and teachers into an innovation economy that posits thinking skills at the core of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, outdated methods of instructionism (Sawyer, 2006) that prepared students for an industrial economy must be replaced with opportunities to think critically, collaborate, communicate and create. Given the changes in our global and local economy, as well as the diversity of skills needed to be college and career ready, effective instructional leadership is identified as a prerequisite to supporting new teaching strategies. The following dissertation takes up issues around the misalignment between teacher development and “21st century” learning skills. A social-cognitive framework is applied to think through this problem of practice unique to twenty-first century communities of learning. Key issues in teacher development such as the transfer of learning are addressed through a professional development model, designed by the student investigator, with the aim of improving self-regulated learning outcomes for students and teachers alike. The professional development sequence involved training educators in an evidence-based framework based in principles of neuroscience called Universal Design for Learning (CAST) and supported them with implementation through a goal-directed lesson study aimed to support adjustments to instructional practice. A mixed methods approach was used to assess the efficacy of the intervention. Positive results were identified and led to the conclusion that a goal-directed professional development sequence does support the self-regulated learning of teachers and also leads to adjustments in instructional practice