Training to Teach Science: Experimental Evidence from Argentina

Abstract

This paper evaluates the learning impact of different teacher training methods using a randomized controlled trial implemented in 70 state schools in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A control group receiving standard teacher training was compared with two alternative treatment arms: providing a structured curriculum unit or receiving both the unit and weekly coaching. Following a 12-week intervention, there are substantial learning gains for students whose teachers were trained using structured curriculum units, as well as for those whose teachers received coaching (between 55 percent and 64 percent of a standard deviation more than those students in the control group). Coaching teachers does not appear to be cost-effective, as the unit cost per 0.1 standard deviation is more than twice the cost of using only the structured curriculum unit. However, additional coaching is particularly beneficial for inexperienced teachers with less than two years of teaching science. Coaching teachers also showed specific gains for girls, who both learned and declared to enjoy science lessons more. High-performing students especially benefited from both interventions, with students from coached teachers performing particularly well in harder questions. Using structured curriculum units and providing coaching also affected teacher perceptions: teachers expressed that they enjoyed teaching science more and taught more hours of science, and that their students developed more skills. Results from a follow-up survey suggest persistent change in teacher practice, with the vast majority reporting using the structured curriculum unit one year after the intervention.

The Effect of Teacher Coaching on Instruction and Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence

“… 3 We identified five causal studies on coaching in developing contexts: Albornoz et al (2017), Cilliers and Taylor (2017), Harvey (1999), Piper and Zuilkowski (2015), and Sailors et al (2014). For a synthesis of the evidence on in-service teacher training programs in the international context, see Timperley, Wilson, Barrar, and Fung (2008) and Popova, Evans, and Arancibia (2016). …”

Entrepreneurship Education and Teacher Training in Rwanda

“…8 The outreach component builds on studies of other training programs with similar follow-up for trained teachers (e.g., Beuermann et al 2013;Abeberese, Kumler, and Linden 2014;Piper and Zuilkowski 2015). The exchange visits resemble a form of teacher coaching (e.g., Bruns, Costa, and Cunha 2018;Albornoz et al 2018;Cilliers et al 2019), except that trained teachers received feedback from peers rather than professional coaches.…”

Teacher Professional Development around the World: The Gap between Evidence and Practice

“…Targeting participant teachers by their years of experience has the next largest, robust association with student learning, at 0.10 standard deviation higher (significant at 90%). This is driven by two programs: the Balsakhi program in rural India, which trains women from the local community who have completed secondary school to provide remedial education to students falling behind ; and the Science teacher training program in Argentina, which trains teachers in different structured curricula and coaching techniques and finds that coaching is only effective for newer, less-experienced teachers (Albornoz et al 2017). Indeed, these are the only two programs out of the 33 that explicitly targeted teachers based on their experience, both of which resulted in student learning gains.…”