全球智库信息集成服务系统

• Nationally, 99 percent of teachers participated in one or more summer professional learning activities and believed that they were relevant, helpful for improving instructional practice, and just as useful as other activities the teachers' schools and districts provided. However, opportunities to receive developmental feedback (i.e., feedback for the purpose of developing instructional skills) about instruction in the summer were uncommon.
• Teaching in an academic-focused summer program may provide teachers nationally with opportunities—such as coaching and observations—to receive developmental feedback about instruction and to practice and improve in certain classroom practices.
• According to teachers, BellXcel Summer (BXS), an academic-focused summer program for students that provides professional learning opportunities to its teachers, had a positive and supportive environment that supported their professional learning.
• BXS teachers reported that the absence of school-year constraints such as testing and curriculum pacing requirements made the use of some student-centered classroom practices easier during the summer than during the school year.
• BXS teachers were more likely than teachers nationally to report that their summer professional learning experiences helped them improve their use of student-centered practices during the school year.
• Academic summer programs may provide unique professional learning opportunities for teachers to practice and improve their use of student-centered classroom practices—particularly positive behavior management and promoting social and emotional learning for students. BXS provided useful insights into the features of academic summer programs that may facilitate teachers' professional learning, such as the absence of school-year constraints paired with positive and supportive teaching environments.

Helping teachers improve their instructional practice through high-quality professional learning opportunities is a key strategy for improving student academic, social, and emotional outcomes. Little is known about the professional learning activities teachers participate in over the summer. This report begins to fill that gap by presenting data from the first nationally representative survey of teachers about their summer professional learning opportunities. It also presents data from a descriptive study of BellXcel Summer (BXS), an academic-focused summer program model for students that provides teachers with numerous professional learning opportunities, and compares BXS teachers' perceptions of their summer professional learning experiences with those of teachers nationally. Exploring the possibilities of utilizing summer as a time for teacher professional learning is imperative in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis, which has disrupted opportunities for school-year professional learning.

• Skip to page content

Objective Analysis. Effective Solutions.