As suggested in the literature on professional development, reform types of activities tend to produce more positive reported outcomes than traditional types, but our results indicate that this effect is largely indirect. That is, reform activities tend to produce better outcomes primarily because they tend to be of longer duration . Traditional and reform activities of the same duration tend to have the same effects on reported outcomes. Our analyses show that the difference between districts and SAHE grantees in reported enhancement of knowledge and skills and reported change in teaching practice is explained almost entirely by the fact that SAHE grantees place a greater emphasis upon duration, subject-matter content, active learning, and coherence . In short, if districts placed a greater emphasis upon these characteristics, we hypothesize that teachers would report their knowledge and skill enhanced to the same extent as teachers in SAHE-supported activities, and that they would be just as likely to report changing their teaching practice.
Red arrows represent stronger relationships.
An asterisk indicates a negative relationship.