OBSERVATIONS OF TEACHER EXPERTISE BEHAVIOR BASED ON A CHECKLIST DEVELOPED FROM STUDENT PERCEPTIONS

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OBSERVATIONS OF TEACHER EXPERTISE BEHAVIOR BASED
ON A CHECKLIST DEVELOPED FROM STUDENT PERCEPTIONS

• EdCamp Philly
• unConference
• David D. Timony, Ph.D.
• May 22, 2010

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Statement of the problem

• Expertise theory is not an applicable approach to
  exploration in the classroom. This is primarily
  due to the fact that the focus of expert
  performance is misplaced.

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Purpose

• The purpose of this research is to examine
  student perceptions regarding teacher expertise
  in the classroom.

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Significance of this study

• The utilization of student perception of teacher
  expertise is an area of research that has not
  been approached in this manner.
• By examining the behaviors that students perceive
  as functions and indicators of teacher expertise,
  it is my aim to explore the relationships among
  student perception, student/teacher outcomes, and
  inter-collegial perception.

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Expertise theory background

• 1899 Bryan Harter
• Telegraphers
• Automaticity
• More current trends are an outgrowth of
  Information processing theory
• 1965 de Groot chess masters
• 1998 Ericsson scientific study of expert
  performance and expert acquisition

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Key components of Expertise development

• Deliberate practice
• Mentoring/coaching
• Domain specificity
• Principled knowledge

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• Glaser Chi (1988)
• Experts
• Excel in domain
• Perceive meaningful patterns
• Perform with speed accuracy
• Possess better short/long term memory
• Perceive problems in deep, principled way
• Analyze problems qualitatively
• Self-monitor effectively in problem solving

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• Ericsson, Charness, Tesch-Romer (1993)
• Experts
• Perform 10 years of practice
• Utilize maximal adaptation within constraints of
  problems

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An expert

• To whom?

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An untapped resource

• Student as Expert?
• or
• Student as consumer of Expertise?

A new inquiry
How capable are students of identifying
expertise in the classroom?
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Competence

• Defining the rules and roles in instructional
  contexts (Shelton, Lane, Waldhart, 1999)
• Student perceptions of college teachers
• College teachers conveyance of competence
• Positive perceptions benefit teacher and student

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Study One

• An inquiry began in the interest of exploring the
  perceptions of high school students regarding
  their experiences and reactions to teachers whom
  they perceived to be experts or novices.

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Research questions

• Is there a difference between high school
  students and adults who participate in the
  Student Perception Descriptor survey?
• Are students as perceptive as teachers and
  administrators in identifying behaviors of novice
  and expert teachers?
• Do students adjust their effort based on their
  perception of teacher expertise?

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Discussion group

• Participants
• 15 high school students
• African American
• Low SES
• Urban boarding school

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Procedure

• Student Perception Descriptor Survey
• 100-item survey
• Based on frequency and clarity of statements
• 49 items predicted as expert descriptors
• 48 items predicted as novice descriptors
• 3 dichotomous items included
• Many student generated descriptors are reflective
  of the descriptors found in competence literature

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Survey

• Participants
• 27 high school students
• 13 faculty members
• 5-25 years in current positions
• range of content areas
• 10 university students

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Results

• The mean responses of the high school students
  range from 1.44 to 4.37 (2.93)
• compared to
• high school teachers whose responses range from
  2.23 to 3.85 (1.62)

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Results

• An ANOVA revealed 9 variables w/significant
  differences at the .01 level and 11 variables
  with significant differences at the .05 level.
• On eight of the nine items in the .01 range, the
  high school students rated the items as predicted
  when the survey was created.
• In all but two cases, the high school teachers
  rated the survey items in the 3 range.

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1HS 2HS faculty 3college
Sig Item Mean 1 2 3 GMD SD
1 0.000 42 Low self-esteem 2.06 1.59 2.40 2.83 1.24 .944
2 0.000 54 Disorganized 2.18 1.74 2.50 2.85 1.11 .896
3 0.001 25 Gullible 1.94 1.56 2.44 2.42 0.84 .810
4 0.002 61 Immature 1.72 1.44 1.60 2.38 0.78 .834
5 0.002 88 Tough 3.44 3.78 2.80 3.23 0.98 .837
6 0.004 63 Moves at a slow pace 2.52 2.22 3.00 2.77 0.78 .735
7 0.006 30 Doesn't compromise 3.04 2.63 3.33 3.69 1.06 1.040
8 0.008 69 All information memorized 3.82 4.11 3.90 3.15 0.96 .941
9 0.010 87 Not strict enough 2.16 1.85 2.40 2.62 0.77 .817
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Admins and teachers riding the fence?

• not reliant on textbook
• students give extra effort
• well educated
• demonstrates self control
• students feel like they are learning

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Summary

• Research question 1
• Is there a difference between high school
  students and adults who participate in the
  Student Perception Descriptor survey?
• There were significant differences between
  students and adults on 20 items.

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Summary

• Research question 2
• Are students as perceptive as teachers and
  administrators in identifying behaviors of novice
  and expert teachers?
• Overall, the administrators and high school
  teachers were more likely to choose either than
  the college students or the high school students

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Summary

• Research question 3
• Do students adjust their effort based on their
  perception of teacher expertise?
• Students in the discussion group reported that
  the decreased their effort if they perceived
  teachers to be novices.

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The major study
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The major study

• Classroom observations of 25 teachers
• Regular class periods of 42-60 minutes in length
• Two non-traditional schools
• Public charter school
• Semi-private boarding school
• Matching content areas
• Social sciences 3/4
• Language arts 4/3
• Mathematics 3/3
• Science 3/2

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Measures

• Teacher Behavior Checklist
• Original instrument
• Developed from Study One data
• Existing means questionnaires
• Summarized in Palmer et al. (2005)
• Training
• Certification
• Affiliations
• Tenure
• Principal indication and ranking

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Research questions

• What type and frequency of behaviors from the
  Teacher Behavior Checklist are demonstrated in
  the high school classroom?
• What is the relationship among teachers indicated
  as experts according to existing means, nominated
  as experts by their supervisors, and those
  indicated as experts according to behaviors
  observed in class using the Teacher Behavior
  Checklist?

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Most observed behaviors
Question 1
Connects with students 111
Uses examples 92
Controls class through teaching 86
Motivates students 82
Controls the pace of learning 79
Explains subject clearly and effectively 79
Helpful 77
Easy to understand 76
Wants to fit in with students 75
Knows subject thoroughly 69
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Frequency and variety
Question 1
Unique behaviors mean 45 (4.13) Total behaviors mean 103 (16.24)
Unique Expert Behaviors mean 34 (2.85) Total Expert behaviors mean 81 (21.23)
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Expert scoring
Question 1

• Expert score
• Total expert behaviors observed / total
  opportunities
• Novice score
• Total novice behaviors observed / total
  opportunities
• Expertise composite
• Expert score / Novice score

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Intercorrelations
Question 2
Uses examples Explains the subject clearly and
effectively
Controls class through teaching Controls the pace
of learning
Maintains little control over the class Can be
taken advantage of
Pushes students to excel Students excel
Controls the pace of learning Maintains little
control over the class ---
Students excel Students give extra effort
Immature Inconsistent with expectations
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Teacher types
Question 2

• Correlations with four existing measures
• Principal rank
• Experience
• Cooperating teacher
• Mentoring teacher

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Principal rank
Question 2

• Correlated items primarily focus on the operation
  of the classroom rather than content or outcomes.
• Helpful
• not Immature
• Professional towards all students
• doesnt want to Fit in with students
• Maintains control over the classroom

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Experienced teachers
Question 2

• Correlated items focus on content knowledge and
  the delivery of teaching.
• Impresses students with knowledge
• Knows a subject thoroughly
• Easy to understand
• Explains the subject clearly and effectively
• Incorporates new concepts well
• Controls the pace of learning
• Moves at a challenging pace
• Uses examples

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Cooperating teacher
Question 2

• Correlated items focus on relationships with
  students
• Aims to please students
• Confident
• Controls the pace of learning
• Friendly
• Gives students proper respect
• Knows the range of student abilities
• Not quick to send students to the office
• Treats all students the same

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Mentoring teacher
Question 2

• Correlated items were a mix of content, delivery,
  classroom management, and student relationship
  items.
• Explains the subject clearly and effectively
• Incorporates new concepts well
• Knows the range of students ability
• Uses examples
• Brings authority to the workplace
• Controls the class through teaching
• Controls the pace of learning
• Gives students proper respect
• Sees things from the students points of view

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Behavioral schemes
Question 2

• A greater number of expert behaviors were
  demonstrated by teachers who were
• more experienced
• cooperating teachers
• mentors
• tenured

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Behavioral schemes
Question 2

• A greater number of expert behaviors were
  demonstrated by teachers who were also indicated
  as experts by
• Cleary Groer (1994)
• Moallem (1998)
• Swanson, OConnor, Cooney (1990)

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Expert scoring
Question 2

• Higher Expert scores were calculated for teachers
  who were
• more experienced
• cooperating teachers
• cooperating teachers many times
• mentors
• tenured

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Conclusion

• Student reported expert and novice behaviors were
  accurate and measurable.
• This study provides support for the utility of
  high school student perception in the evaluation
  of teacher expertise.
• Support for the hypothesis that teachers with
  more expertise use a narrower behavioral scheme
  is supported by the data in this study.

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Conclusion

• This study opens many doors and asks many more
  questions while beginning to address an important
  gap in the literature.
• I am eager to continue seeking these answers.