A Multi-Method Approach for Assessing Changes in Teacher Performance in a Life Sciences Teacher Institute
The LSGC is currently in its third year of funding and as such, complete data from the above activities is not available. Our goal for the LNC session is to describe this research and evaluation framework and provide results that are currently available.
At this time, data indicate that there is evidence of teacher content knowledge gains when pre-test and post-test results are compared. This is true for both Year 1 and Year 2 content for Cohort 1 as well as Year 1 content for Cohort 2. For example, teachers in Cohort 1 took the content test at the beginning and end of the 2007 institute. Two forms of the test were constructed, A & B, each with 45 multiple-choice items. There was significant overlap in the items contained on each form though each form contained some unique items. A statistical analysis indicated that the test forms were essentially equivalent in performance. Knowledge gains between pre and post tests were observed overall and for each content area with the exception of the Form A Ecology test. This was due to the unique items on form A that were not on Form B. Additionally, preliminary analyses indicate that there is evidence of knowledge retention by Cohort 1, the year after the coursework was completed.
Student test and survey results are currently being analyzed and will be presented at the LNC meeting. Initial analyses indicate that student end-of-year test scores are significantly higher than beginning of year scores. However, in Year 1 there is no difference in pre/post percent gain scores between students of teachers in Cohort I and students of teachers in Cohorts 2 and 3 (not yet in the Institute). A significant difference has been detected between the pre-test scores of students who have teachers who were in the summer institute and students of teachers not in the institute. The meaning of these data, if replicated in Year 2, will be interpreted with additional data sources, i.e., student perception of teaching and teacher attitudes toward teaching science.
