Professional development effects on elementary principals' attitudes toward implementing new standards: A randomized control trial

Principal support for implementing changes in policies and practices in the schools they lead is understood to be an important factor related to successful reform. Although professional development opportunities for educators are routinely used as a primary vehicle for knowledge dissemination around educational reform initiatives (e.g., new instructional standards and practices or changes in accountability policies), little is known about impacts of professional development for school principals. To add to the body of knowledge in this area, the current study reports on findings from a 2009 randomized field trial involving elementary school principals (N = 110) who completed both pre- and posttests of the Change Facilitator's Stages of Concern Questionnaire (CFSoCQ), a self-report measure of attitudes toward leading implementation of an innovation in their schools. In this study, the innovation was Florida's new content standards in mathematics and science, the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS). Key components of the intervention were designed to: improve principals' mathematics and science content knowledge; increase their knowledge of the NGSSS; strengthen their ability to observe teacher's instruction and provide feedback; and develop their ability to support communities of instructional practice in their schools. These professional development foci were aimed at building principals' will and capacity for successfully leading the transition to the NGSSS in their schools.;At pretest, the majority of principals in both the intervention and comparison groups reported that their primary concerns related to implementation of the new standards centered on a need for more information about the standards. Multinomial logistic regression (MLR) analyses suggest that assignment to the professional development condition was impactful for principals' self-reported attitudes toward facilitating the implementation of new content standards in their schools. At posttest, findings indicate that for principals assigned to professional development: the estimated odds of being focused on successful management of teachers' transition to the new standards were nearly four times higher than principals in the comparison condition; the estimated odds of being focused on the consequences of implementation of the new standards were more than six times higher than principals in the comparison condition; and the estimated odds of being focused on opportunities to collaborate with other administrators as they work to lead implementation of the new standards were nearly nine times higher than principals in the comparison condition. Given the use of the Information stage (CFSoCQ Stage 1) as the outcome reference category for the MLR, these results suggest the intervention was effective at moving principals from a stage of wanting more information about the new standards to stages focused on: successful management of teachers' transition to the new standards; consequences of implementation of the new standards; and opportunities to collaborate with other administrators as they work to lead implementation of the new standards.;The results show that this intervention was successful for improving principals' readiness to lead their schools in the adoption of new mathematics and science content standards by moving them beyond a place of information-seeking to a focus on how best to manage, mitigate, and collaborate around the transition to the new standards. Study findings offer support for the use of professional development for school principals as a means of building principals' will to lead change efforts in their schools. In today's K-12 educational policy environment, principal support for the transition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is likely to be a top priority for policymakers and state and district leaders in those states making this transition. The results of this study are particularly relevant in today's policy context given that the majority of states are working to transition to the CCSS.