Professional Development and the Impact on Teacher Growth and Development

This study involved examining the beliefs of teachers at one urban elementary school regarding how professional development has helped them meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study included a series of in-depth interviews with three teacher leaders. The goal was to obtain consent from them to participate in this study at their school. With a qualitative approach, this study included a narrative inquiry method to illuminate teachers' perceptions of whether professional development had a positive impact on their instruction. A series of in-depth one-on-one interviews further shed insight on which types of professional development teachers felt improved their practice for meeting the needs of a culturally and linguistically diverse population.