| For decades, quality and continuous performance improvement have received inclusion in the culture of business, manufacturing, and healthcare organizations, with the purpose of improving production and services. Current educational contexts demand standards-based education, increased accountability, and the preparation of students for college and 21st-century careers. To achieve these goals, schools and districts require improved teacher professional development that transfers to the classrooms and creates changes in teacher practice. In the educational literature, research on the transfer of teacher training to the classroom is limited. Despite the recognized importance transfer has on learning, minimal attention has focused on identifying the factors that facilitate or inhibit the transfer of teacher training to the classroom and on implementing action-oriented interventions to improve teacher practice. This qualitative research used an Action Research approach and the Performance Improvement/HPT model, an action-oriented intervention to identify the factors influencing the transfer of teacher training to the workplace. The Performance Improvement/HPT model would increase teacher transfer of training to improve student and school outcomes. The application of Human Performance Technology to school improvement is an innovation that creates the prospect of examining barriers and opportunities specific to educational organizations. |
