Center for Teacher Education, Training, and Research

Researching Teacher Knowledge
Policymakers, Educators, and Experts Convene at SIT

Photo on right: Miriam Raider-Roth, SUNY Albany, and Anna Richert, Mills College.

How teachers learn affects how they teach, and in turn how well their students learn. While the connection may seem intuitive, it's been long overlooked. The practice of "reflective teaching," which focuses on a teachers' own learning experiences, is garnering lots of attention in professional development circles. This was demonstrated at the Researching Teacher Knowledge Conference, held at the School for International Training (SIT) in Brattleboro, Vermont, on November 3-5.

The conference was hosted by SIT's Teacher Knowledge Project, a collaboration among SIT, Vermont K-12 schools, and teachers that is at the forefront of reflective professional development and the push to document teacher learning and practice.

Twenty-five teachers and national education researchers attended the first-ever gathering, including Polly Ulichny of Brown University; Michael Kass, Director of the Teacher Quality Collaboratory of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, an educational think tank; and Jean Clandinin, a professor and a leading researcher from the University of Alberta, Canada. "The conference provided teacher educators the rare opportunity to explore together the most important problem in education -- the relation between teacher learning and student learning," remarked Clandinin.

Attendees shared a common goal -- to confront nationwide challenges in teacher recruitment, retention, and effectiveness by enhancing teaching practice through professional development. Currently, most professional development for teachers takes a prescriptive approach, often focusing on deficits -- what teachers or students lack. Reflective professional development focuses instead on how teachers can use their knowledge of their students and subject matter to help students learn more effectively.

The conference challenged the widely held assumption that the only way to improve student learning is for a teacher to have greater subject matter competence and to more strictly adhere to statewide standards. However, researchers from universities around the country agreed that the issues are more complex. They indicated that to make thoughtful decisions about how to teach, teachers must synthesize what they know about their students, school, subject matter, community, and more in order to make thoughtful decisions about how to teach. "Throughout our varied projects and research, the real concern is about student outcomes, and meeting all students' needs, especially those who are disenfranchised," stressed Anna Richert, a professor at Mills College in Oakland, California.

Donald Freeman, Jean Clandinin and Carol Rodgers

Photo on right: Donald Freeman, SIT, Jean Clandinin, University of Alberta, and Carol Rodgers, SUNY Albany.

As conference attendees focused on articulating a common framework for this nexus of teacher learning and student learning, other key issues emerged. The first -- how to define teacher knowledge -- induced researchers to examine the many ways a teacher's knowledge can be measured, many of which are not currently addressed by standardized testing of teachers. Participants highlighted the need for alternative extensions to traditional concepts of teacher and student learning, particularly given the demand for today's children to be creative, work well in groups, and be lifelong learners who can easily adapt to an ever more complex and fast-changing world. "We must struggle to make visible student learning that is not assessed by high-stakes testing," asserted Donald Freeman, director of the SIT Center for Teacher Education, Training, and Research in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Following a discussion of how to identify evidence of student learning-- currently a thorny issue among educators--participants agreed to extend their research in order to document links between what teachers learn and the learning opportunities they create for their students.

As a result of the conference, researchers determined to work further on the development of a common framework for teacher learning. Stanford University professor Pam Grossman noted, "We have to be open to and account for the kinds of teacher learning that involves shifts in how teachers see what is happening in their teaching and in their students' learning, how confidently they deal with the decisions they make, and how well they enhance relationships with students and colleagues."

Photo on right: SIT President Jim Cramer with conference participants.

The conference was also an opportunity for K-12 teachers and education policy makers from Vermont to engage in discussion with noted researchers from outside the state. Exchanging ideas with the research group on Saturday evening were Jim Cramer, president of SIT; David Larsen, middle school teacher and Vice-chair of the Vermont State Board of Education, and former legislator; and Lisa Cox, Brattleboro Town School Board chair and State Board member.

Participating teachers echoed the belief that learning to step back, observe, and allow students to give feedback on their learning lessened the uncertainty teachers encountered in deciding how best to teach their students. Putting student learning at the center is the key. Using a sports metaphor, Southeast Career Center teacher Don Barnes said that reflective teaching enables him -- like the experienced quarterback-- "to slow down the playing field so that I can see individuals clearly and make accurate passes downfield." It has helped him make a shift from being teacher-centered to being student-centered, and to not see himself as the only source of knowledge in the classroom.

Summing up the renewed energy and excitement the researchers felt as they prepared to return to their campuses and projects, Kitty Boles, teacher-researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education commented, "The intersection of our different projects provided an important common ground that enables us to return to our work with new ideas. We have clarified our thinking and have a glimpse of the larger challenges." Attendees agreed on the need to continue the innovative and important work that took place during the conference.

The members of the Teacher Knowledge Project research group will continue to pursue their own investigations while collaborating through online conferencing. The group plans to reconvene in fall 2001 to report on and continue complementary research around issues of teacher and student learning.

The Teacher Knowledge Project was established at SIT in 1998 through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to support the development, delivery, and documentation of reflective professional development. The Teacher Knowledge Project is currently one of many projects of the SIT Center for Teacher Education, Training, and Research (CTETR). Providing worldwide training, consultation, reflective professional development, and sponsored research, the Center promotes practice in the area of teacher development and education that leads to progressive personal, institutional, and social change.

SIT is one of the world's foremost graduate institutions for teacher training, international studies, and intercultural management. The programs of SIT emphasize experiential, field-based learning, providing participants with the knowledge and skills they need to work effectively in multicultural environments, promote social justice, and advance international understanding.

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