EXAMINING THE INFLUENCE OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PRE-SERVICE TRAINING ON THE USE OF SELF-REGULATION PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES OF MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS

Academic self-regulated learning (SRL) skills closely align with the 21st century skills that lead to student success. Research demonstrates that academic achievement is closely related to the use of SRL in the classroom and that teacher practices are fundamental in imparting these skills to their students. It is not clear, however, how teachers are acquiring these skills and/or how their knowledge of metacognition and SRL are generalized into their pedagogical practices. This quantitative study examined the relationship between use of SRL pedagogical practices and teacher exposure to pre-service training and professional development, as well as their years of teaching, subject matter, and race/ethnicity. Middle school (7th and 8th grade) participants were asked to complete a survey about their use of SRL pedagogical practices, which made available on Facebook professional networking sites. Independent t-tests, ANOVAs, and multiple regressions were used to analyze the resulting data. Training, both via pre-service and professional development experiences, was found to be strong predictor of use of SRL practices. The results of this study can guide decisions on the delivery of professional training initiatives that develop best instructional practices with the ultimate goal of improving student achievement