SUPPORT FOR GOOD TEACHING PRACTICE

According

to Darling-Hammond (2012), teaching quality is "instruction that enables a wide range of students to learn". It is also the strongest school-related factor that can improve student learning and achievement (Hanushek, 2011; Nye, Konstantopoulos, and Hedges, 2004; Rivkin, Hanushek, and Kain, 2005).

What are the best ways to foster support for good teaching practices? According to research, there are several elements that can almost increase the chances for successful teacher development and create a powerful and positive school community.

First, there must be effective administrator and teacher leadership, which is second only to teaching. It is among the factors that can improve student achievement .

Research also says that superintendents, principals, and others in positions of authority in school systems are instrumental in providing the vision, time, and resources to support continual professional learning, a positive school climate, and success for all students.

There must be a vision of academic success for all students based on high expectations; a safe and cooperative climate for learning; support and training to promote continual professional learning; data to track and promote collaborative inquiry and practices that improve student learning; and cultivating leadership in staff, parents, and community partners.

They say that great leaders focus on developing people's capacities rather than their limitations. Schools that foster trust among parents, teachers, and school leaders are more likely to see academic improvement than schools that do little or fail to foster trust, according to Bryk and Schneider, (2003).

Also critical for school improvement efforts to succeed is teacher leadership. Accomplished teachers are most knowledgeable about how students in their school or district learn, and thus they are ideal candidates to lead professional-learning and curriculum development efforts.

When teachers receive well-designed professional development, they can increase student achievement.

Above all, it is most important to remember that effective professional-development programs are job-embedded and provide teachers with five critical elements: collaborative learning; links between curriculum, assessment, and professional-learning decisions in the context of teaching specific content; active learning; deeper knowledge of content and how to teach it; and sustained learning, over multiple days and weeks.