The Impact of Staff Development on Teachers' Ability to Modify Curriculum for Gifted and Talented Students1

Abstract

In this study, three levels of staff development were provided to elementary teachers to train them in a technique called curriculum compacting. Teachers in 20 school districts across the country were randomly assigned by district to one of three treatment groups that received different levels of staff development. After receiving training in curriculum compacting (a procedure that enables teachers to eliminate previously mastered curriculum and substitute more challenging alternatives), teachers were able to eliminate between 42% and 54% of the content for the high-ability students they selected. Teachers in Treatment Group 3, who received the most intensive staff development, completed the highest rated compactor forms. The majority of the teachers in the study were enthusiastic about the process of modifying curriculum for high-ability students, reinforcing Guskey's (1986) model of the process of teacher change.