Peer Review

Professional Learning Communities for Teacher Development: The Collaborative Enquiry Process in the Date-Informed Practice Improvement Project (DIPIP)

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Feb 9, 2018 by Teacher Education

Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

The goal of the research and development Data-Informed Practice Improvement Project (DIPIP) was to create a context for professional conversations in which mathematics teachers, together with university academics, graduate students, and government-based subject advisors, discussed what information test data can provide to help think about reasons for learner errors and how these might be addressed through collaborative lesson planning, teaching and reflection.

This project report addresses the first of the outcomes of the project:

A documented collaborative enquiry process through which academics, subject facilitators and school teachers together discuss what data suggests about reasons for learner errors and how these insights might be addressed through joint lesson planning and reflection.

Type of Material:

This is reference material describing a two-year study conducted in 2009-2011 and published in 2012. It outlines the results from a three-year research and development program for 62 mathematics teachers from Grades 3 to 9 from a variety of Johannesburg schools.

Recommended Uses:

This report could be used by teachers, administrators and college professors in teams, in PLCs and in professional development to better understand how to analyze student errors, and how to plan for ways to support misunderstandings by students.

Technical Requirements:

The user must be able to download .pdf files.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The learning goal of Data-informed Practice Improvement Project (DIPIP) was to create a context for professional conversations in which math teachers, university professionals, grad students and Ed Department advisors discussed information test data provided to look for and understand learner errors.

Target Student Population:

K - 12 teachers, college professors, administrators

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Participants should understand Professional Learning Communities and Evidence Based Learning.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: A detailed study of how administrators and faculty worked together to improve the math curriculum in grades 3, 6 and 9. The goal of the research and development Data-Informed Practice Improvement Project (DIPIP) was to create a context for professional conversations between teachers, faculty, graduate students and the Department of Education worked together to improve math education. The report is very detailed and provides the step by step procedures used by the researchers to analyze student mistakes and misconceptions.
Concerns:: Although this paper was published in 2012 based on the results of an experience the three previous year, the method and the description of the approach would make it still useful.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: The purpose of the review is to help math and school administrator know how use Evidence Based Practices. Test data was used and the project discussed how and why students made mistakes to improve math learning.
Concerns:: This paper is published under the Creative Commons license, which is a plus, The copyright is owned by © School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand. It is free to use but the citation: "Shalem, Y., Sapire, I., Welch, T., Bialobrzeska, M., & Hellman, L. 2011. Professional Learning Communities for Teacher Development: The Collaborative Enquiry Process in the Data-Informed Practice Improvement Project. Johannesburg: Saide must be included. This information is given at the top of the report, but it is important that teachers respect this.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The report is well written and the results of the study were positive. It will be of interest to teachers and administrators.
Concerns:: This is an interesting, well documented study of how to improve math teaching using test data. The team did receive funding. According to the report "The teachers and GDE Facilitators received an honorarium and travel expenses were paid for each session attended. Lunch was provided at all sessions. The group leaders were also paid for their facilitation of the groups." This might prove a barrier in the replication of this study, but, since the results were positive, may also be cited to gain local funding.

Other Issues and Comments:: This is not an article from a peer-reviewed journal but it was a report from the School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand Funded by the Gauteng Department of Education.
Creative Commons: