| With recent federal legislation requiring Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers to integrate academic skills into their technical curricula, CTE teachers need meaningful professional development that enhances their pedagogical expertise and provides opportunities to collaborate with their academic colleagues. Research has shown that professional development should be on-going, school-based and collaborative to improve teacher practice, but teachers are still being offered the one-size-fits-all workshops that focus more on disseminating information rather than providing teachers with learning experiences that are directly related to the classroom.;This multi-case study explored the learning and collaboration of CTE teachers in two different types of professional development experiences: (1) a course on integrating reading, writing, and mathematics skills into CTE curricula, delivered by a master teacher; and (2) a small teacher study group that met regularly for the purpose of improving teaching practice. Both professional development experiences occurred at a comprehensive senior high school and involved both CTE and academic teachers.;Six CTE teachers from different content areas served as participants for the individual case studies. The teachers participated in either the integration course or the study group, or both. Qualitative data was collected from participant interviews, classroom observations, participant reflections, classroom documents such as lesson plans and instructional strategies, field notes from classes and study group meetings, course surveys and study group assessments, and the researcher's reflections and analytic memos. Each case was analyzed individually and then cases were analyzed comparatively to generate common categories and themes among and between the cases.;The study found that different types of teacher learning and collaboration occurred, depending on the context, process, content and structure of the professional development experience. In addition, both professional development experiences were conducive to adult learning because they provided an environment that acknowledged and responded to the unique needs of teachers as adult learners. While the integration course emphasized building knowledge and pedagogical expertise about integration, the study group focused on building professional knowledge and community through sharing and support. Both professional development activities provided teachers with opportunities to collaborate and to grow as professionals. |
