American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance - AAHPERD

Issue: November/December 2012

Zero to Eighty Degrees: Six Years and What We Have Learned
Karla Drury, Elizabeth Ginger, Christina Sinclair, & Tia Ziegler 

Abstract: The goal of school-university partnerships is most often the promotion of teacher growth through professional development (PD). Yet, despite the best of intentions, most PD is not conducted in an effective way. The purpose of this article is to share the perceptions of one group of elementary teachers regarding teacher growth and change as the result of sustained PD. Six years after the school-university partnership was formed, the teachers identified the main aspects of their work that had been significantly altered as a result of the PD, including changes in the curriculum, expanded collaboration with other teachers as well as with the local university, and an increased focus on the child as their reason for teaching. Each of these aspects of change are discussed with examples, and the article concludes with what has been learned about the PD process.