| Summary: | Professional development is one of the most efficient means for improving teacher performance and student outcomes. While research has identified several key attributes of effective professional development, there remains a discrepancy between what such positive qualities and actual implementation. At the same time, most professional development targets the improvement of student learning outcomes as measured by performance on standardized tests by attempting to improve
teacher content knowledge and pedagogy. Little attention within the realm of professional development is paid to teacher-student relationships and the effect such relationships can have on improving student learning outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to explore the perceptions and attitudes of teachers in an urban elementary setting toward school-specific professional development and their influence on student learning outcomes. Using Guskey's
Alternative model of professional development and teacher change this study sought to answer the following central research question: How do teachers at Grace Elementary School perceive the professional development they receive as it relates to improving their teaching practice? Guskey's Alternative model of professional development and teacher change suggests that in order for professional development to effective in changing teachers' beliefs and attitudes, teachers must first see a
change in student outcomes following the successful implementation of what was learned in PD. This case study found: (1) variance in how professional development is defined, (2) professional development = opportunity, (3) professional development = teacher growth, (4) teachers desire holistic improvement in their students, (5) teachers desire student growth over proficiency, (6) teachers perceive their relationship with students in terms of love, (7) teachers desire to strengthen their
relationship with students, (8) teachers perceive mandatory professional development as too broad, (9) teachers perceive mandatory professional development as too repetitive, (10) teachers perceive self-selected professional development as better aligned to their goals and more timely, (11) greater choice in self-selected professional development leads to greater teacher satisfaction, and (12) self-selected professional development offers teachers more opportunities for quality
collaboration. From these findings this study concluded that professional development needs to offer more choices that better align with teacher needs and is most effective when it stresses high-quality collaboration. Additionally, this study also found that more professional development teacher-leader opportunities need to be offered and more explicit professional development needs to be offered on strengthening teacher-student relationships.
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