Bruce Torff

Developmental changes in teachers' use of higher order thinking and content knowledge

Secondary-level history teachers (n=60) participated in a study examining differences among experts, experienced teachers, and novices in classroom use of higher order thinking skills (HOTS) and content knowledge. The results support the theory that development of teaching expertise is associated with a change from HOTS-lean and content-rich (curriculum-centered) practices to HOTS-rich and content-lean (learner-centered) ones, but teachers who gain classroom experience and in-service training tend not to develop the full range of expert skills, notably with respect to HOTS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

ASSESSMENT OF TEACHERS' BELIEFS ABOUT CLASSROOM USE OF CRITICAL-THINKING ACTIVITIES

This article reports five studies in which a scale for assessing teachers’ beliefs about classroom use of critical-thinking (CT) activities was developed and its scores evaluated for reliability and validity. The Critical Thinking Belief Appraisal (CTBA) is based on a four-factor “advantage effect” model: the theoretical premise that teachers’ CT-related decision making is associated with their beliefs about the effectiveness of (a) high-CT activities for high-advantage learners, (b) high-CT activities for low-advantage learners, (c) low-CT activities for high-advantage learners, and (d) low-CT activities for low-advantage learners. Results indicated that the scale produced scores with high reliability; a stable factor structure; and satisfactory discriminant, construct, and predictive validity. The studies supported the theoretical and practical utility of the construct and measure of teachers’ beliefs about classroom use of CT activities.

Assessment of Teachers’ Attitudes about Professional Development

This article reports three studies in which a scale for assessing teachers’ beliefs about professional-development initiatives was developed and its scores evaluated for reliability and validity. Results indicated that the Teachers’ Attitudes About Professional Development (TAP) scale produced scores with high reliability, a stable one-factor structure, and satisfactory construct and discriminant validity (relative to measures of need for social approval, need for cognition, authoritarianism, and teacher self-efficacy). The studies support the theoretical and practical utility of the construct and measure of teachers’ beliefs about professional development.

Teacher Beliefs Shape Learning for All Students.

Unless teachers hold high expectations for all students, achievement gaps will continue to occur.

Differences across Academic Subjects in Teachers' Attitudes about Professional Development.

Abstract A survey study examined how attitudes about professional development (PD) vary among teachers of different subjects. Elementary teachers were more supportive of PD than health and physical education, social studies, and science teachers; special education teachers were more supportive of PD than social studies and science teachers; and five teacher groups (elementary, special education, math, English, and art and music) were more supportive of PD than science teachers. The results show the need for the design, implementation, and evaluation of program innovations aimed to improve both program effectiveness and teachers’ attitudes about PD.

No Research Left Behind

With curriculum-centered practices dominating the national scene in education, Carl Glickman of Texas State UniversitySan Marcos asked a diverse group of individuals to write, sans royalties, letters to the next President of the United States concerning pressing issues in the nation’s schools. The result was Letters to the Next President: What We Can Do About the Real Crisis in Public Education—34 chapters including 44 letters written by students, teachers, administrators, scholars, foundation officials, and politicians. Letter writers include such noteworthy figures as (in alphabetical order) Linda DarlingHammond, Lisa Delpit, John Glenn, John Goodlad, Maxine Greene, Jim Jeffords, Lillian Katz, Deborah Meier, Pedro Noguerra, W. James Popham, Ted Sizer, and the late Paul Wellstone, with a lively introduction by Bill Cosby. The letters are almost uniformly critical of policies favoring accountability through testing, with special vituperation offered for NCLB. The inclusion of the word “next” in the title suggests that the editor did not see much point in attempting to communicate with George W. Bush, architect of NCLB and chief executive as the letters (and this review) were written. Accordingly, advocates of accountability through testing are not included, with one exception—a secondary teacher in Nebraska, Edward C. Montgomery, contributes a somewhat rambling letter that doesn’t explicitly mention NCLB but praises reform of educational practice through testing, particularly using locally designed (as opposed to state-designed) tests. Apart from this lone dissenting view, the book presents one urgent letter after another describing the woeful consequences of policies emphasizing accountability through testing without providing significant additional resources for the nation’s schools. Letters to the Next President: What We

Explicitly Linking Human Impact to Ecological Function in Secondary School Classrooms.

Abstract Both the old National Science Education Standards (NSES) and the recent Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) devote significant resources to learning about human environmental impact. Whereas the NSES advocate learning about human environmental impact in a section apart from the science-content learning strands, the NGSS embed them in the core life-science and ecology learning strands. We describe a study that compared the effects of these different approaches on ninth-grade biology student learning. It found that students learned significantly more human-environmental-impact and ecological-function content when human-impact content was embedded in ecology content than when human impact was taught as a discrete unit from ecology.

Folk Belief Theory, the Rigor Gap, and the Achievement Gap

Abstract Folk belief theory is suggested as a primary cause for the persistence of the achievement gap. In this research-supported theory, culturally specified folk beliefs about learning and teaching prompt educators to direct more rigorous curriculum to high-advantage students but not to low-advantage students, resulting in impoverished pedagogy in disadvantaged schools. Folk beliefs tend to be resistant to change, which helps to explain why the achievement gap has proven so persistent. At the same time, various belief-change strategies have potential to promote use of rigorous curriculum with disadvantaged students.

Educators’ beliefs about appropriate pedagogical models for Spanish-speaking ELLs who differ in home-language and English-language literacy abilities in the United States

ABSTRACT Survey research (n = 366) examined educators’ beliefs about the efficacy of five pedagogical models (English as a second language (ESL) self-contained, ESL push-in, ESL pullout, bilingual, and dual language) for English language learners who differ in English literacy proficiency and home-language abilities (delimited to Spanish in this research). Dual language was preferred when students have high English proficiency; this effect was extremely strong for students who are also proficient in Spanish, and moderate when students’ Spanish skills are low. Bilingual education was moderately favored when English is low and Spanish is high. ESL self-contained was moderately favored when students lack literacy proficiency in both English and Spanish. Language proficiency was a consistent predictor of model preferences, with effects sufficiently strong to likely have meaningful impact on actual student placements. Future research should determine the extent to which this pattern in teachers’ beliefs comports with educational outcomes.

Placement of former english language learners in middle schools: general education or dual language?

ABSTRACTHistorically, many educators have attempted to help English Language Learners (ELLs) develop sufficient English skills to be reclassified so that they can be placed in general-education cla...