The Global Landscape of In-Service Teacher Professional Development Programs: The Gap between Evidence & Practice

Wednesday, November 29, 2017
11:30 AM - 12:45 PM
(Pacific)

Philippines Room Encina Hall East, 3rd floor

616 Serra St. Stanford, CA 94305

Speaker: 
  • David Evans
About the Topic: We review evidence on the characteristics of the most effective teacher professional development (PD) programs, present new data from around the world on the actual characteristics of large-scale teacher PD programs, and demonstrate where existing PD programs could be more effective based on evidence. We propose a standard set of 70 indicators—the In-Service Teacher Training Survey Instrument (ITTSI)—for reporting on such programs as a prerequisite for understanding the characteristics of interventions that lead to improved student learning. We apply the ITTSI to PD programs in low- and middle-income countries that have been evaluated rigorously. Across 26 programs with impact evaluations and student learning results, those programs that provide complementary materials, focus on a specific subject, and include follow-up visits tend to show higher gains. We then apply the ITTSI to a sample of 48 government-funded, at-scale PD programs across 14 countries. This analysis uncovers a sharp gap between the characteristics of teacher training programs that evidence suggests are effective and the global realities of most teacher training programs.  
 
About the Speaker: David is a Lead Economist in the Chief Economist's Office for the Africa Region of the World Bank. He is a co-author of the World Development Report 2018, “Learning to Realize Education’s Promise.”  He studies education, health, and social protection issues. He has designed and implemented impact evaluations in education, early child development, health, and social protection, in Brazil, the Gambia, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania, and he has managed education projects for the World Bank in Brazil. Current projects include global evidence on girls’ education and teacher professional development. He teaches economic development at the Pardee RAND Graduate School of Public Policy, and he holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.
Lead Economist
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