Online Case Studies as a Professional Development Opportunity for Teachers of Elementary Reading

For some time now educators have called for improvements in the nature of professional development (Pd) opportunities for practicing teachers (e.g., borko, 2004; desimone, 2009). of continuing interest is the identification of content and methods of Pd programs that help teachers gain expertise as practitioners (e.g., borko, whitcomb & liston, 2009; hatch & grossman, 2009). with regard to teaching english language arts, traditional programs designed to give teachers guidance in “what” to teach and “how to” teach reading do not always lead to changes in practice or improvements in students’ achievement (e.g., garet, Cronen, eaton, kurki, ludwig, Jones et al., 2008). the alternative explored in this study is the use of case studies as the basis for an online program that offers teachers the opportunity to learn to identify and analyze features of lessons that affect the quality of reading instruction. studying other teachers’ instruction is thought to help teachers adopt an analytic approach to teaching; scrutiny of features that contribute to the quality of teaching in others’ lessons has the potential to influence teachers’ evaluation of their own practices (e.g., hiebert, morris, berk, & Jansen, 2007).