PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TO PROMOTE SCHOOLWIDE INQUIRY

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TO PROMOTE SCHOOLWIDE INQUIRY M Bruce King University of Wisconsin-Madison Wisconsin Center for Education Research 1025 W Johnson Street Madison, WI 53706 608-263-4769 fax 608-263-6448 mbking1@facstaff.wisc.edu 15 February 2001 MS # 1363, accepted for publication in Teaching and Teacher Education This paper was supported by the U.S Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement (Grant No R308F60021-97), the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation and the Spencer Foundation, and the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison Any opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and not necessarily reflect the views of supporting agencies Helen Marks, Fred Newmann, Virginia Richardson, and Peter Youngs provided helpful feedback on previous drafts The author also thanks two anonymous reviewers and Greta Morine-Dershimer for their comments on the initial manuscript PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TO PROMOTE SCHOOLWIDE INQUIRY Abstract This paper explores the extent of teacher inquiry, and how professional development can promote schoolwide inquiry, in seven urban elementary schools in the US The regular and systematic inquiry present in two of the schools is highlighted The schools’ organizational contexts that facilitate inquiry are also considered As a key element of professional community, the ways in which inquiry contributes to, and interacts with, other aspects of teacher community are examined The paper also reflects on the issue of strict or flexible community boundaries and how inquiry can help to keep a school’s faculty focused yet dynamic, as well as open to dissent and change Keywords: Teacher inquiry, Professional development, School organization Professional development to promote schoolwide inquiry I Introduction Teacher Inquiry Two strands of the current school reform agenda, both in the US and internationally, are teacher inquiry and organizational learning On the one hand, the restructuring and reculturing of schools should promote inquiry in which educators critically examine their own beliefs and practices (e.g., McLaughlin & Oberman, 1996; Richardson, 1994) This emphasis on inquiry and reflection has become one aspect of redefining teacher professionalism in many first-world countries (Conway, 2001) On the other hand, schools need to become learning organizations (Argyris & Schön, 1978) Schools as learning organizations help teachers interrogate, integrate, and apply knowledge and values in the process of continual improvement (Leithwood & Louis, 1999; Louis & Marks, 1999; also Crowther & Kaagan, in press) This study begins to bring these two strands together Much of the research on teacher inquiry has focused on pre-service teacher education or on the individual teacher or small group participating in some form of action research But recent research is emerging that shows teacher inquiry to be necessary for ambitious instructional reform Also, professional development that entails inquiry into subject matter and teaching has shown positive results on teacher learning, practice, or student learning (Darling-Hammond & Sykes, 1999; Lytle & Cochran-Smith, 1994; Smylie 1998; Wilson & Berne, 1999) This study seeks to further understand the contributions of professional development to schoolwide inquiry, as well as the benefits of inquiry to a school’s professional community Teacher inquiry entails a number of critical features At the individual level, inquiry suggests a vision of the teacher “who questions her assumptions and is consciously thoughtful about her goals, practices, students, and contexts” (Richardson, 1994, p 187) Inquiry puts teacher practice and student learning under scrutiny; and it generates and reinforces core beliefs, norms, and values of the community Teachers become students of their craft as they struggle with key issues of determining academic content or subject matter, implementing instructional strategies, responding to students’ development, or understanding social conditions of schooling relevant to equity and justice concerns (Kruse, Louis, & Bryk, 1995) At a minimum, then, collective inquiry involves teachers talking to each other about their practice and how it relates to student outcomes, and being willing to disagree Other criteria indicate more complex inquiry, such as inviting or searching for dissenting viewpoints; making taken-for-granted assumptions explicit and challenging them; analyzing data, knowledge, and information; reaching collective understanding or decisions; and sustaining a focus on a specific topic Similar to Cochran-Smith and Lytle’s (1999) “inquiry as stance,” this conception of inquiry suggests, not a one-time activity or project, but a defining feature of a community in which teachers investigate and critically examine practices, theories, and research, and collectively confront issues in a systematic and continuous way Typical professional development activities represent the antithesis of careful inquiry These activities tend to be imposed by external authorities without significant input from teachers and rarely sustained or followed-up Often, professional development is divorced from teachers’ work contexts, and presents material that teachers see as irrelevant to student learning in their specific school settings Different activities throughout a year or a period of years tend to lack consistent focus, either for individual teachers or for a school And, perhaps most importantly, traditional professional development mirrors traditional forms of instruction where the learners, the teachers, are passive In contrast, professional development that promotes inquiry will involve teachers in determining content and process, will relate specifically to their students, will be sustained and systematic, and will entail active learning that may lead to important changes in beliefs and practices Inquiry and Professional Community If innovative approaches to professional development stress only individual teachers’ learning, while neglecting to help a whole faculty to integrate their learning for the collective advancement of students in that school, organizational learning is diminished We would not expect substantial changes in practice or student learning for a school as a whole From this organizational perspective, inquiry should not be a solo activity, but one aspect of a school’s professional community Recent research has shown the importance of teachers’ professional community for school reform Drawing on the conceptual and empirical work of Louis, Kruse, Marks, and colleagues (e.g., Louis, Kruse, & Associates, 1995; Louis, Marks, & Kruse, 1996; Newmann, King, & Rigdon, 1997; also Westheimer, 1998), a strong schoolwide professional community consists of (a) a clear shared purpose for student learning, (b) collaboration among staff to achieve the purpose, (c) professional inquiry by the staff to address the challenges they face, and (d) opportunities for staff to influence the school’s activities and policies Although teachers can engage in careful individual inquiry about their practice, inquiry as a collaborative activity among teachers at a school is what contributes to professional community Because they are in an organizational setting, teacher reflection becomes a joint responsibility that encourages them to work collectively toward shared understandings and commitments (Kruse, Louis, & Bryk, 1995) Inquiry that is pursued individually by teachers in a school, even if a significant number of them are doing it, could lead to organizational fragmentation that weakens overall student and staff learning Some caution is warranted, though, in advocating a strong professional community in a school The term “community” tends to be associated with positive, even progressive, social conditions But like other social arrangements, community can have ambivalent tendencies (Wagner 1994) On the one hand, community entails harmony, consensus, mutual understanding On the other, there is an urge to unify to the point where homogeneity is valued, even enforced (Young, 1990) As Noddings (1996) points out, “In all strong communities, there is a significant measure of normocentricity … (which) can produce admirable or deplorable results” (p 254) Thus shared norms, values, and goals define communities but these can lead to either strict or flexible boundaries to the community With strict boundaries, where norms are highly explicit with little room for negotiation or interpretation, comes silence or exclusion Disagreement and diversity are perceived as a threat, and minority viewpoints are unwelcome Critical reflection seems essential to avoid these potentially negative outcomes of community Inquiry should be seen as an integral part of professional community because when communities inquire about their norms, values, and goals, as well as practices to achieve them, difference or conflict is inherent but their cultivation contributes to flexible boundaries That is, norms are continually revisited and refined, dissent or new perspectives are welcome, and the community is dynamic rather than stagnant In this paper, then, I will explore the extent of inquiry, and how professional development can further schoolwide inquiry, in seven urban elementary schools From these schools, different examples of inquiry are highlighted, including the regular and systematic inquiry present in two of them Aspects of the organizational contexts of the schools that facilitate collective inquiry, including leadership and structures, will be considered I’ll then analyze how inquiry contributes to, and interacts with, other aspects of teacher professional community in these schools, and return to the issue of strict or flexible boundaries and how inquiry can help to keep a professional community focused yet dynamic, as well as open to dissent and change The conclusion will draw implications from the study’s findings and suggest further research II Research Methodology and Analysis This investigation is part of a larger study of professional development to build school capacity Our definition of capacity included the following five dimensions: the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of individual staff members; professional community; program coherence; technical resources; and principal leadership.1 Seven public elementary schools in the US participated from spring 1997 through fall 1999 They were selected through a national search for schools serving large proportions of low-income students which a) had histories of low achievement, b) had shown progress in student achievement over the previous three to five years, c) attributed their progress to schoolwide and sustained professional development, d) participated in site-based management, and e) had received significant professional development assistance from one or more external agencies.2 In addition to the five criteria, the schools were chosen to represent different approaches to professional development and different kinds of assistance from district, state, and independent providers (see the Appendix for professional development and demographic information for each school) The study intentionally sought out schools that used professional development in exemplary ways according to the criteria outlined above One indication that we did in fact locate such schools is that, according to teacher survey data, all the participating schools scored consistently higher on dimensions of school capacity than did a comparable sample of schools in Chicago On measures of inquiry (or reflective dialogue), the seven schools in the professional development study were significantly higher than the Chicago schools (Smith 1999) Initial data collection in spring and fall of 1997 involved fieldwork in the seven schools for three days by a team of two researchers Visits to the schools were scheduled so that significant professional development activities could be observed Observed activities included workshops or in-services with outside authorities, but also activities internal to the school such as common planning or release time for teachers to meet in committees, cadres, grade teams, and as a school as a whole, as well as meetings to network with teachers from other schools Researchers also interviewed school staff (10 to 12) and representatives from external providers of professional development and collected pertinent documents as well as achievement, demographic, and fiscal information.3 Four of the schools (Falkirk, Kintyre, Lewis, and Renfrew4) with the greatest potential for comprehensive professional development, that is professional development that consistently addressed most or all dimensions of capacity, were visited three more times through 1999 The other three schools (Carlisle, Pitlochry, and Wallace) were visited once more in 1999 Research methods in the follow-up visits followed the same general pattern as in the initial visits, but interviews raised issues that emerged in prior visits on how professional development addressed the different dimensions of capacity We conducted two stages of analysis to determine the level of teacher inquiry at each school, as well as the extent to which professional development addressed inquiry over the course of the study The first stage of analysis occurred after each school visit when research staff compiled field notes from their observations and interviews and wrote a report addressing the research questions of the full study At this stage of analysis, the school report focused on how professional development addressed three aspects of capacity: teachers’ knowledge, skills and dispositions; professional community (each of four dimensions including inquiry); and program coherence The second stage of analysis took place after all data collection had been completed and all of the school reports were written We used the reports to rate each school (high, medium, or low) on several variables One was the level of collective inquiry at the time of the first visit and the final visit A second was the extent to which inquiry was addressed by professional development over the course of our study To be rated high on inquiry, professional development activities at a particular school met at least four of the following criteria Teachers ♦ have considerable control over process and content; ♦ critically discuss issues of school mission, curriculum, instruction, or student learning; ♦ address areas of disagreement and entertain diverse viewpoints; ♦ draw upon relevant data and research to inform deliberations; ♦ sustain a focus on a topic or problem, and reach a collective decision Research staff assigned individual ratings for each variable; when there was disagreement, the ratings were discussed until consensus was reached The ratings were used to inform explanations for why some schools used professional development to address capacity more comprehensively than others did The next section presents the three major findings of this study III Findings In a select sample of schools, only two used professional development to strongly address schoolwide teacher inquiry In the other five schools, the extent of collective inquiry was limited Even though all the schools in this study used professional development in innovative ways and demonstrated some gains in student achievement, we found schoolwide inquiry to be low in five of them In short, teachers’ work in professional development rarely met the criteria for inquiry There seems to be at least two possible explanations One, while inquiry was low at these schools, it may have been somewhat better than at other schools with little success in raising achievement The comparison to the sample of Chicago schools noted above provides support for this explanation Alternatively, the low levels may indicate that in the short term, collective inquiry may not be necessary for school improvement that enhances achievement In part IV Conclusions, I’ll return to this issue and argue why in the long term, professional development should promote schoolwide inquiry Over the course of the study, there were examples of relatively high quality inquiry at the five low schools However these examples represent isolated instances of inquiry rather than a consistent element of the schools’ approaches to professional development At Carlisle, for instance, collaboration among teachers was high through grade level team meetings and a mentor program for new teachers Teachers consistently reported sharing ideas with and receiving suggestions from colleagues But there was little evidence that staff participated in dialogue in which they critically discussed issues of mission, instruction, or achievement; addressed areas of disagreement; or used data to inform their deliberations At Wallace, there were many instances of teachers’ sharing ideas for practice However, inquiry was irregular and rare An external consultant working long-term with the school affirmed that the professional development needed to work more on reflective practice One veteran teacher said that most dialogue and professional development at the school was too shallow She said bluntly, There are too many buzzwords such as reciprocal teaching, problemsolving, blah, blah, blah What does it mean if it’s not part of you? Similarly at Kintyre, observations and interviews revealed lots of sharing of ideas but little inquiry among teachers But during our last research visit in fall of 1999, staff analyzed the 10 The school’s math facilitator conducted regular observations of students and teachers After identifying students who struggled in math, she would observe their classes and then meet with the teacher to discuss ways in which these students might be helped While this activity entailed meeting with teachers one-on-one, it was consistent with the culture and practice of teachers examining their implementation of the SFA program in light of their immediate context and how well their students were doing Leadership support for inquiry at Renfrew could be traced to the district superintendent His vision for professional development was school based, and entailed an explicit emphasis on inquiry As he stated, the school community has to decide what they will focus on … to create an environment where teachers can examine their practices in light of a knowledge base, and to really take a look at their instruction in theory and practice, going out and trying things, coming back and talking about it, going out and trying it again It’s more than a coaching model; it’s much more what we call inquiry-based It needs to relate to their practices, to student success and what they mean by student success It seems to me that looking at student work should be one of the central organizing elements He perceived inquiry to be productive at Renfrew in part because the school had a principal who passionately believed that teachers needed to be actively engaged in examining their practices The school’s principal argued that small teacher inquiry groups would result in school change Their model for these groups included norms of confidentiality and privacy Groups were not necessarily action oriented but could be For her, the critical component was tying these groups to the more public inquiry system conducted at institutes, and grade level and whole staff meetings that were connected to the school’s essential questions She said, For me, thinking 20 about pushing the envelope toward change, I’m not sure if I didn’t have this other parallel strategy going on, which is schoolwide and every body is engaged in it – having those two strategies, they are very complementary and they really really help In facilitating pre- and mid-year institutes, Renfrew’s principal designed activities for the staff that included examining achievement data disaggregated by race/ethnicity and social class, discussing instructional strategies and other teacher behaviors that might help students from different backgrounds, and reviewing results from a staff survey to identify areas needing attention Teachers were always involved in planning these activities as well as helping to facilitate them during the institutes To make formal policy and plans for professional development, the principal consulted with the lead teachers from the grade level teams, and no major change was made without wide support throughout the faculty In the meetings we observed, teachers consistently voiced ideas, proposals, concerns, feedback, and criticisms, with direct encouragement for this kind of dialogue from the principal She summarized her approach to fostering teacher inquiry, My own personal belief is that I will never change anybody’s value system and belief system However, I can put them in an environment where they have an opportunity to re-examine it I know I have people all over the map in terms of that development I have people who are in total denial that they have any biases or prejudices that may be affecting their teaching I have people who are on the road to really understanding and figuring out what to about that I have teachers of color who go between being frustrated and angry, and hopeful To find the right strategies that meet all those different people… it’s the hardest facilitation I’ve ever done 21 She acknowledged that she received critical support from the regional network of schools involved in the California restructuring initiative and the California Consortium for School Restructuring (CCSR) The Consortium coordinated regional networks and developed the “protocol” process to assist school staffs to reflect rigorously, in a supportive context, on its efforts Her comments suggest the importance for ongoing professional development and technical support for school leaders as well as teachers At both schools, leadership for inquiry acted not to arrive at predetermined conclusions or to consolidate the power of those in formal leadership positions Rather it was facilitative, promoting broad participation and influence, as well as encouraging open exchange of ideas and deliberations Principals and teachers valued both individual and collective growth as important outcomes of inquiry Inquiry and other aspects of professional community interacted and affected one another As discussed previously, the study’s framework for professional community included (a) a clear shared purpose for student learning, (b) collaboration among staff to achieve the purpose, (c) professional inquiry by the staff to address the challenges they face, and (d) opportunities for staff to influence the school’s activities and policies At both Lewis and Renfrew, inquiry helped to build teachers’ shared commitment and collaboration, and in turn, these aspects of professional community were foundations for further inquiry Teacher empowerment was strong at both schools throughout the study, and seemed to be important for productive inquiry as well as strengthened by it But before looking at these two schools, we briefly consider one of the other schools where professional community suffered because inquiry was weak At Falkirk, inquiry and sustaining focus in professional development were chronic problems over the course of the study, and this seemed to harm the school’s professional 22 community Some of these problems were due to the shifting educational policy environment The state implemented a centralized testing and accountability system that entailed a dramatic shift from previous policy under which individual schools identified their own learner standards The new policies entailed a change in the school’s focus for learning with little teacher commitment But some of the problems were school-based Falkirk was an Accelerated School, a model that provided structures and processes for school improvement including inquiry (see Hopfenberg et al., 1993) However, teachers failed to practice the inquiry process well or consistently Some teachers said of inquiry that they were “spinning wheels.” Although collaboration occurred in the Accelerated Schools structures (e.g., cadres, steering committee) and in grade level team meetings, commitment to shared goals and teacher empowerment was uneven Falkirk abandoned the Accelerated Schools model with the change of principals midway through the study In contrast, the staff at Lewis adopted their specific direction for school improvement through a process that entailed broad-based involvement and careful inquiry by teachers In 1993-94, the teachers began to investigate programs that, based on research, would offer more success with disadvantaged students than the faculty had been able to achieve to date The principal explained that prior to that time, the staff had worked hard and tried a number of things, but had concluded that nothing produced the results they wanted A committee of 10 teachers examined alternatives that included visits to other schools employing different programs and presentations to the rest of the staff They were impressed with Success For All and made a commitment to adopt the program, with 100% of the faculty voting to so They used a similar process in the spring of 1997 to investigate programs for science and social studies As opposed to contrived consensus on a decision already made by a principal or accepting an external 23 mandate to adopt and implement a specific program or approach to reform, Lewis serves as a promising example in which teacher inquiry builds on and reinforces shared commitment, collaboration, and influence, other aspects of professional community In a cyclical pattern, as the school progressed in its implementation of SFA, students became more successful, which in turn raised teachers’ expectations for learning Their commitment to learning goals was reinforced, as was their practice of inquiry to enhance their implementation At Renfrew, staff scrutinized conditions of schooling relevant to equity and social justice While it was extremely challenging for teachers to examine issues of racism and prejudice in their own attitudes and practice, it seemed to help generate and reinforce commitment to shared learning goals Inquiry both involved and contributed to collaboration in that teachers’ beliefs and their students’ achievement levels were subject to collective scrutiny in a supportive environment Teachers struggled jointly with key issues of determining academic outcomes by grade level and ways to measure them One inquiry group facilitator noted the challenge and importance of inquiry to the schoolwide program and a shared focus She said that what Renfrew teachers did with inquiry was incredibly healthy It’s extremely tense and difficult But there’s this sort of kick-over point where if a school as a whole doesn’t come to own the work, it’s never the school’s work Previously, it was noted that communities have shared norms, values, and goals but that these can result in strict or flexible boundaries With strict boundaries comes silence or exclusion; the strength of shared norms imposes uniformity with little or no room for dissent However, when communities inquire about their norms, values, and goals, difference and conflict are inherent, and their cultivation contributes to flexible boundaries and growth.5 24 Renfrew serves as a good illustration We were initially concerned that the strength of the school’s professional community could lead to two negative outcomes: (a) silencing or disempowering some teachers, because collective bonds or norms were so powerful (yet fragile) that they could not tolerate dissent, or (b) increased conflict that destroys community, when collective bonds are not strong and mature enough to handle disagreement One inquiry group facilitator put it this way, They were always teetering on the brink of fracture caused by the tension of going too far (toward assumptions of the existence of racism and toward more explicit anti-racism) for some teachers, and not far enough for others But through inquiry, the common focus of the community could be continually negotiated As one teacher put it, Within that commonality for the school, it has to be open-ended enough that each person can take that and make it individual Collective inquiry, as suggested in this study of schools with innovative approaches to professional development, was not a common practice or easy to achieve Yet when it was, as in Renfrew’s case, collective inquiry with broad involvement and honest examination of goals, values, and practices at the school level seems to be a key ingredient for organizational growth and may offer a safeguard against possible negative outcomes of increased “community.” IV Conclusions In this study of professional development in seven elementary schools, the extent of collective teacher inquiry was limited In most of the schools, professional development activities that involved inquiry were isolated instances rather than ingrained into the fabric of the school’s culture Only at two schools, Lewis and Renfrew, did teachers engage in schoolwide inquiry in an ongoing and systematic way These two schools offer at least an existence proof that innovative forms of professional development can address schoolwide inquiry 25 But Lewis and Renfrew illustrate contrasting approaches to professional development and the focus for inquiry Teachers at Lewis focused on the implementation of a comprehensive program developed by an external organization that also provided continuing technical assistance Renfrew teachers approached school improvement through their own ongoing development of standards and assessments, and through critical examination of issues of social and educational equity These schools illustrate that professional development can meaningfully address collective teacher inquiry with either approach It does not seem particularly surprising that with their approach, Renfrew teachers engaged in inquiry At the same time, the more prescriptive program at Lewis might be associated with limited opportunities or limited need for inquiry But the Lewis experience with Success For All suggests that adopting an established program does not necessarily preclude teacher inquiry and that inquiry, together with school-level decision making, can contribute to shared learning goals and implementation of the given program Further research can help determine if schoolwide inquiry, as well as other aspects of professional community and school capacity, plays a significant role in different models for comprehensive school reform This study does not suggest that schoolwide inquiry is necessary to enhance student achievement Certain forms of instruction may be less dependent on collective (or individual) inquiry even though, as we have seen, teachers engaged in and benefited from inquiry with the prescriptive SFA program Some schools at any particular point in time may not be ready, or attention to other matters (e.g., teacher instructional knowledge and skill in a particular subject area) may take precedence That is, in the short term some aspects of the school might deserve more attention than others 26 From this study, sustained schoolwide inquiry at two schools strengthened other aspects of their professional communities—shared commitment to learning goals, collaboration, and teacher influence Collective inquiry also seemed to encourage organizational growth by keeping a community focused, yet dynamic Coupled with the research on professional community in schools and on organizational learning, the implication may be that in order to build capacity or to keep it at a high level, in the long run professional development at all schools should entail collective schoolwide inquiry Though this study is suggestive, more research is clearly needed to help to further understand inquiry’s contribution to and interaction with professional community, instructional quality, and student achievement 27 References Argyris, C., & Schön, D.A (1978) Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S.L (1999) Relationships of knowledge and practice: Teacher learning in communities In A Iran-Nejad & P.D Pearson (Eds.), Review of Research in 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