Professional development in the era of accountability: Teacher's perceptions

The purpose of this study was to understand teacher's perceptions as they relate to professional development. This study was conducted in the context of ongoing efforts to identify and implement effective professional development practices. In a time when school systems face the daunting challenge of meeting state and federal mandates and legislation, schools are forced change practice and policies in the effort to raise the bar on student achievement in their schools.; Teachers from one Central Virginia school division participated in an online survey soliciting their perceptions about professional development programs delivered in their schools. A pseudonym was used to maintain anonymity of individual schools and survey participants. 218 teachers in October Morning Ranch school division responded to the survey.; The research questions that guide this study are: (1) What are teacher's current perceptions about professional development? (a) In terms of the standards identified by the research, to what extent do teachers perceive their professional development meets these standards? (b) To what extent do teachers perceive their professional development directly impacts student achievement? (c) To what extent do teachers perceive their professional development meets their content or grade level needs? (2) Are there differences in teacher's perceptions of current professional development based on years of teaching? (3) Are their differences in teacher's perceptions of current professional development based on their teaching assignment?; It was found that novice teachers who have been teaching only 1-3 years saw their experience more positively than teachers who have taught longer. Novice teachers experienced their professional development to be of higher quality, driven by student data, enabled them to communicate with the principal, active and engaging when compared to teachers who have taught 4-6 years, 7-18 years and 19+ years. Analysis was also conducted to find a relationship between teachers who taught different subject areas. The data suggested an inconsistency between teachers who taught various subject areas. There was one significant finding with item #15 that asked respondents if they had opportunity to observe fellow teachers during instructional time. A significant level of P= 0.04 was found. A Post hoc test found significant differences between content teachers and special education teachers.; Results indicated that effective professional development must be comprised of the following components: (1) Needs assessments/empowerment; (2) Principal as an instructional leader; (3) Sustainability; (4) Active learning, engaging, and high quality professional development; (5) Opportunities to learn new content and instructional strategies; (6) Collaboration and reflection among educators; (7) Differentiated professional development for content; learning style and for adult learners; (8) Evaluation of professional development.