Impact of Instructional Alignment Workshop on Teachers’ Experience with and Beliefs on State Standards

Raul A Baez-Hernandez

Abstract


In a school district in Florida, student performance from 2011 to 2017 had been inconsistent from year to year across all grade levels, as measured by the state’s standardized assessments. Instructional misalignment to state standards is deemed a significant cause. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which teachers’ experiences were affected and beliefs about instructional alignment changed after they receive a professional development workshop on instructional alignment. The professional development was expected to expand teachers’ understanding of (a) lesson plan alignment, (b) the value of alignment between state standards and the standardized assessment and instruction, and (c) the best instructional practices that can be aligned with the state standards. Designing a professional development program on instructional alignment and utilizing cross-sectional surveys to obtain changes on 41 teachers’ perceptions before and after the training, results indicated that the professional development workshop has a positive impact on teachers' experiences and beliefs on aligning instructions with state standards. Given this, more schools especially in Florida, are recommended to implement professional development programs to aid teachers in designing their lesson plans to make sure that the instructional practices they will engage in, as well as the tests they will give, are aligned with state standard.

https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.18.1.8


Keywords


instructional alignment, state standards, professional development

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References


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