Closing the teaching gap: Professional development programs that work

This grounded theory study formulates a theory correlating relationships between professional development, teaching gaps, and distinguished schools in a Pacific State. The participants (N=120) of this study were teachers from schools identified as distinguished and also those from schools who have never attained the award. The research question driving the study is how and to what extent does a relationship exist between professional development, teaching gaps, and distinguished schools. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Surveys were used to collect the quantitative data and interviews, observations, and historical data were used to collect the qualitative data. Descriptive analysis was conducted to analyze quantitative data, and emerging theme analysis was conducted to analyze qualitative data. A theory was developed that professional development should be experiential, collaborative, have meaning and purpose, improve professional skills, elicit self-reflection, change practice, and have teacher input. Consistent with this theory, professional development should include both teacher input in development as well as an evaluation tool where participants can assess their skills and the changes made on their practice through self-reflection.