Teacher Professional Development and Student Achievement Gains

Teacher Professional Development and Student Achievement Gains

The achievement of students results from the work of knowledgeable, experienced, and skilled teachers. Therefore, there is a need to improve the knowledge and skills of teachers to ensure that the achievement of students is possible. Investment in education must include allocation of funds and time for professional development of teachers in elementary education. There are many options in developing the skills and knowledge of teachers. The most appropriate approaches to professional development aim at gaining high student performance. The research conducted on the professional development of teachers focus on the personal traits of teachers and classroom activities. Research helps to find the appropriate way of developing teachers so that students achieve high performance. This paper gives an analytical review of the teacher professional development, which is aim at increasing student learning and achievement.

The activities and content, which must be included in teacher professional development, include student learning, skills of the teacher and the subject matter (Jogthong & Pimolbunyong, 2009). There are two categories of studies into the professional development and student achievement. The first category mainly focuses on the traditional teaching skills of teachers. The ability of a teacher in allocating adequate time for lessons is the area of assessment so that the teacher adequately develops his or her ability to allow sufficient time for student learning (Frampton & Vaughn, 2003, p. 292). The development of the teacher therefore should focus on enabling the teacher to be able to apply critical thinking and taking all learning factors into consideration in ...

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