Greg Rothwell

MEL 590
Teacher Perception Survey Analysis
Professional development is crucial for developing a faculty that is up-to-date
on trends and practices. This allows the educator to become more effective in the
classroom as well as proactive in the eyes of students and the community. By the
use of survey, it is possible to assess what kind of professional development should
be offered, as well as what past professional development should not be provided in
the future.
The survey inquired, first, about the academic area of interest, which
included Math, Science, Social Studies, Reading/Language Arts and Health-Physical
Education. The purpose of this question was to measure primarily what subject the
teacher specialized in and secondarily what discipline a teacher would have an
interest. According to the results, most people were interested in Social Studies,
with a 50% majority, which suggest that most people who took this survey are likely
to be Social Studies teachers; table 1 displays the results of this survey questions. I
would imagine if the survey had a broader sample size the disciplines would be
more even, but the specific survey results show social studies as the preferred
discipline.
The second area of survey focuses on the delivery method of professional
development. This area of focus is very important because how the professional
development is delivered can truly impact the effectiveness of that professional
development. The results of the survey suggest that most professional prefer a
workshop, a professional development that is subject-specific or a program that is
primarily hands on. According to this data, professionals would be most likely
enthusiastic about professional development that was related to their field and was
more interactive, and not lecture-based or led by a presenter; this data can be found
in the table 2. It is no surprise that hands-on workshops would tie for first place due
to the fact that this seems to be one of the most difficult styles to implement when it
comes to large group professional development or even small-group professional
development. A hands-on training would require a more intimate setting and to
school districts, this would be costly.
Professional development, aside from content-based, tries to expose
educators to certain topics to broaden the education of the teacher to try to show
new ways they can deliver messages. The third part of the survey addresses topics
of professional development. These topics include anything from Professional
Learning Communities, curriculum development, student motivation, or technology
integration. Data in table 3 reflects the desire for teachers to focus on Professional
Learning Communities, student motivation, curriculum development and
technology integration. It seems the present trend shows that teachers are willing to
collaborate with each other as well as use new technology in the classroom. Perhaps
both of these could be related to motivating students to achieve the end result of
higher test scores and higher scores on other forms of assessment.

The remaining three questions of the survey asked about past experiences
with professional development. The survey requested information about successful,
not successful, and other thoughtful suggestions about past or present professional
development. The results seem to be very similar in that most people responded by
saying they enjoyed professional development that involved subject specific matter,
hands-on activities, or something that they could take back to the classroom.
Unsuccessful professional developments also seem to have a common theme. These
would include professional developments that were meant for large groups or were
given by a single presenter or even a webinar. Most large group professional
developments are not concerned with the specific needs of each individual teacher
or for their students. It seems the overall consensus from the last three questions
was that teachers appreciated and professional development was designed for their
specific needs and also teachers appreciated when the best duration asked for
recommendations when it came to their professional development sessions.
Table 1

Table 2

Table 3