Building Instructional Capacity Ann Jaquith: A Research Brief
Legislation & Policy
Following is the abstract and excerpts from the research
brief.
ABSTRACT
The ideas in this brief were initially developed in The Creation
and Use of Instructional Resources: The Puzzle of Professional
Development (2009). This research brief presents a conceptual
framework to illuminate the conditions that enable professional
development resources to get used by teachers and schools. A
theory of instructional capacity building is proposed that
extends Martha Feldman’s (2004) work on resourcing by
specifying what instructional resources are and by situating
resource use in a specific context. Data is drawn from a
comparative, embedded case study of two middle schools (Jaquith,
2009) and from a state-level case study of teacher professional
learning (Jaquith, Mindich, Wei & Darling‐Hammond, 2010).
Instructional capacity: What is it?
Broadly conceived, instructional capacity is the collection of
resources for teaching needed to provide high quality instruction
to groups of students in a specific context. Four types of
instructional resources are needed in order for a school or
district to provide high quality instruction to all students:
1) Instructional knowledge (including knowledge of content,
pedagogy, and students);
2) Instructional materials (e.g. curriculum, instructional
tools, textbooks, teaching materials, assessments —
and know-how to use these materials);
3) Instructional relationships that are characterized by trust,
mutual respect, a recognition of instructional expertise and an
openness to interpersonal learning;
4) Organizational structures that support the identification,
development and use of instructional resources (e.g. common
learning time for subject and/or grade-level teachers; formal
instructional leadership roles and organizational mechanisms that
foster teacher collaboration, learning from peers and
communication patterns that develop a shared understanding of
teaching practices that are linked to student learning). These
four types of instructional resources are multi-faceted and
interdependent.
Access the full research brief HERE
