This article reports the results of a randomized control trial of a semester-long intervention designed to promote ninth-grade science students' use of text-based investigation to create explanatory models of biological phenomena. The main research question was whether the student participants in the intervention outperformed the students in the…

We assessed the impacts of a teacher professional development program for public and private kindergartens in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. We examined impacts on teacher professional well-being, classroom quality, and children's readiness during one school year. This cluster-randomized trial included 240 schools (teachers N = 444; children N…

This embedded mixed method study used a randomised controlled? trial design to examine two cohorts of upper (grades 4-6) elementary teachers' classroom implementation of nature of science (NOS) instruction following their participation in a statewide professional development (PD). The treatment group (n = 145) was compared to a control group (n =…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI), a professional development and early reading intervention program delivered via webcam technology, could support the early reading progress of English learners (ELs). Participants for the current study were drawn from a larger three-year randomized…

Easy access to low-cost, high definition video technology has transformed how researchers and practitioners are approaching school improvement efforts. Video-based observations of classroom instruction provide researchers the means to define and measure aspects of effective teaching and suggest subsequent professional learning. In this article we…

Data-based decision making (DBDM) is an important element of educational policy in many countries, as it is assumed that student achievement will improve if teachers worked in a data-based way. However, studies that evaluate rigorously the effects of DBDM on student achievement are scarce. In this study, the effects of an intensive…

This multiyear scale-up effectiveness study of Open Court Reading (OCR) involved approximately 4,500 students and more than 1,000 teachers per year in Grades K-5 from 49 elementary schools in seven districts across the country. Using a school-level cluster randomized trial design, we assessed the implementation and effectiveness of Open Court…

Using a low inference observation instrument, we investigated the effect of an ongoing, intensive, and structured virtual professional development [VPD] on fidelity of implementation across conditions in a randomized control trial validation study implemented in seven Texas school districts. The observations were collected three time in the…

Purpose: This multiyear experimental study was designed to examine (1) the causal impact of McREL International's Balanced Leadership® Professional Development (BLPD) program on school principals' learning, beliefs, and behaviors and (2) whether there were differences in the types of outcomes the professional development influenced. Outcomes…

Professional development designed to integrate key features of research-based professional learning has positive and significant effects on teacher practice and student achievement in mathematics when implemented in schools that meet specified technology-readiness criteria. Key features of research-based professional learning include intensive…

We present main effects of treatment and moderating effects of student background on science and engineering outcomes for grades 3-5 children participating in an engineering intervention. Data is from a large-scale randomized-controlled trial of two matched pairs (intervention and comparison) of engineering units. The intervention curriculum…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI), a professional development and early reading intervention program delivered via webcam technology, could support the early reading progress of English learners (ELs). Participants for the current study were drawn from a larger three-year randomized…

The purpose of this replication study was to examine the impact of the Teacher Study Group (TSG) professional development in vocabulary on first-grade teachers' knowledge of vocabulary instruction and observed teaching practice, and on students' vocabulary knowledge. Sixty-two schools from 16 districts in four states were randomly assigned to…

Few research studies have examined postintervention data from professional development interventions on science teaching and learning. Given the limited research, it is recommended that more studies examine the lasting effects of science professional development on teachers and students. The purpose of this current study was to examine the…

This article describes the effects of an analysis-of-practice professional development (PD) program on elementary school students' (Grades 4-6) science outcomes. The study design was a cluster-randomized trial with an analysis sample of 77 schools, 144 teachers and 2,823 students. Forty-two schools were randomly assigned to treatment, (88.5 hours)…