Professional Development and Student Achievement in High Poverty Schools: Making the Connection

Abstract

The Alabama Torchbearer School Program was established to identify high-poverty, high- performing schools in the state. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are differences among the perceptions of principals in Torchbearer Schools and principals in similar schools with low student performance relative to the professional development practices in their schools. Three one-iuay analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures were conducted to assess differences in the perceptions of principals in the implementation of process, content and context of the National Staff Development Council standards (NSDC 2001). The findings from this study suggest that principals in Torchbearer Schools perceived higher levels of the implementation of NSDC standards (content, process and context) in their schools than their counterparts in non-Torchbearer Schools as measured by the NSDC survey. Additional statistical procedures supported this finding.