dr. yolanda e. smith, phd dissertation defense, dr. william allan kritsonis, dissertation chair
DESCRIPTION
Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, PhD Dissertation Chair for Dr. Yolanda E. Smith, PVAMU, Member of the Texas A&M University SystemTRANSCRIPT
Differences in Professional Development Training Between One Corporation and One Large Texas
Public School District
A Dissertation DefenseBy
Yolanda E. SmithWilliam Allan Kritsonis, PhD
Dissertation Chair
April 8, 2023 Yolanda E. Smith 2
Committee Members
William Allan Kritsonis, Ph.D.(Dissertation Chair)
Ben C. DeSpain, Ed.D
Camille Gibson, Ph.D.
Douglas Hermond, Ph.D.
David Herrington, Ph.D.
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Dissertation Defense Format
I. The Problem
II. Purpose of Study
III. Conceptual Framework
IV. Methods
V. Research Questions [5]
VI. Hypotheses (4)
VII. Subjects of the StudyVIII. Quantitative Major
Findings and Review of Literature
IX. Analysis of Data (Qualitative)
X. ConclusionsXI. Recommendations
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Concerns in Education
Retention
Shortage
Professional Development
Morale
Salary
Student Achievement
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I. The Problem
“Until we improve the methods used to measure the links among professional development, teacher performance, and student achievement, educators will be unable to convince parents, community leaders, and local school boards to provide the sufficient time and funding necessary to improve our teachers’ understanding and our students’ performance” (Hackett, 2005).
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II. Purpose of the Study
To compare the professional development training programs in the corporate business world with the professional development training programs in the public education systems using Guskey’s 2000 model.
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Purpose of the Study
To determine by what methods do the private corporation and the public education system use in evaluating the overall effectiveness of their professional development programs.
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III. Conceptual Framework
Guskey’s Model
Learning
Reactions Outcomes
Organization
Support
Use ofKnowledge &Skills
Quality&
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IV. Methods
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Methods(Quantitative)
SurveyDescriptive StatisticsT-Test for Independent Samples
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Methods(Qualitative)
Questionnaire3 open ended questions
InterviewsCorporate managersSchool district administrators
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V. Quantitative Research Questions
1. What are the differences in participants’ reactions regarding the professional development training between public educators and corporate employees as measured by the Professional Development Assessment Tool (PDAT)?
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Quantitative Research Question
2. What are the differences in participants’ learning in professional development training between public educators and corporate employees as measured by PDAT?
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Quantitative Research Question
3. What are the differences in organizational support for professional development between public educators and corporate employees as measured by PDAT?
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Quantitative Research Question
4. What are the differences in participants’ use of knowledge and skills gained from their professional development training program provided by the corporate sector and public education as measured by PDAT?
(Qualitative)
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Qualitative Research Question
5. What are the differences in how the evaluation of participants’ learning outcomes is determined between the corporate sector and public education as measured by Guskey’s model?
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VI. Null Hypothesis
Ho1 There are no statistically significant differences in participants’ reactions regarding the professional development training provided between public educators and corporate employees as measured by PDAT.
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Null Hypothesis
Ho2 There are no statistically significant differences in participants’ learning throughout their professional development training between public educators and corporate employees as measured by PDAT.
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Null Hypothesis
Ho3 There are no statistically significant differences in organizational support for professional development training between public educators and corporate employees as measured by PDAT.
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Null Hypothesis
Ho4 There are no statistically significant differences in participants’ use of knowledge and skills gained from their professional development training program provided by the corporate sector and public education as measured by PDAT.
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InstrumentationPilot Study
Purposive Sampling
30 NASA employees
30 Educators within one HISD
Test-Retest
Reliability Coefficient = +.88
Changes based on inputs from
Professional Development Experts
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VII. Subjects of the Study
QuantitativeEducators: 735 invited; 475
responded.Corporate Employees: 476 invited; 304
responded.Total participants invited 1211; 779
responded. Overall Response Rate was 64%.
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VIII. Major Findings: QuantitativeResearch Question 1
Ho1 There are no statistically significant differences in participants’ reactions regarding the professional development training provided between public educators and corporate employees as measured by PDAT.
Reactions N Mean SD t Sig
(2-tailed)
Public School District
465 20.70 4.15 3.736* .000
Private Corporation
307 19.68 2.86
*Significant at p ≤ 0.05
Decision: Reject Null Hypothesis
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Quotes from School District Employees’
“It has affected me positively.”
“Positively, when able to implement.”
“The more chances I have to implement new skills the better I feel.”
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Participants’ ReactionsReview of Literature
Comments from participants will tend to be more positive when the content addresses specific problems and offers practical, relevant solutions that can be implemented immediately (Guskey, 2000).
Reactions of participants should be measured on all programs for two reasons: to let the participants know that trainers value their reactions, and to measure their reactions and obtain suggestions for improvements (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2005).
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Major Findings: QuantitativeResearch Question 2
Ho2 There are no statistically significant differences in participants’ learning throughout their professional development training between public educators and corporate employees as measured by PDAT.
Learning N Mean SD t Sig
(2-tailed)
Public School District
463 19.83 4.34 5.482* .000
Private Corporations
303 18.24 3.22
*Significant p ≤ 0.05
Decision: Reject Null Hypothesis
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Quotes from School District Employees’
“I learn what other teachers do that works and other teachers learn from me. To be successful at any job, you have to communicate with others, learn and change.”
“Sometimes it’s good to hear other teachers talk about their solutions to various issues.”
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Participants’ LearningReview of Literature
Champion (2003) states yearlong training programs is another
method used to determine participants’ learning by giving participants ongoing projects and allowing peers or program leaders to gather the data through observations.
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Major Findings: QuantitativeResearch Question 3
Ho3 There are no statistically significant differences in organizational support for professional development training between public educators and corporate employees as measured by PDAT.
Org Support N Mean SD t Sig.
(2-tailed)
Public School District
462 18.81 4.45 -2.049* .041
Private Corporations
304 19.42 3.26
*Significant at p ≤ 0.05
Decision: Reject Null Hypothesis
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Quotes from Corporate Employees’
“Having a supportive manager goes a long way in affecting employees’ positively including inspiring us to learn new things.”
“ I love having tuition reimbursement for development outside the company and most importantly the support my manager gives me in attending school.”
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Organizational SupportReview of Literature
Guskey (2000) stressed that without a systemic approach, organizational factors can hinder or prevent the success of improvement efforts, even when the individual aspects of professional development are done correctly.
Tsarouhas (2004) stated every organization ventures into training in order to meet some intended goal or objective for the purpose of organizational growth.
Lowden (2003) discovered that teachers who had the most effective professional development experiences positively evaluated the organization’s support and change.
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Major Findings: QuantitativeResearch Question 4
Ho4 There are no statistically significant differences in participants’ use of knowledge and skills gained from their professional development training program provided by the corporate sector and public education as measured by PDAT.
Knwldg. Skills N Mean SD t Sig.
(2-tailed)
Public School District
459 17.45 3.67 6.069* .000
Private Corporations
306 16.01 2.32
*Significant at p ≤ 0.05
Decision: Reject Null Hypothesis
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Quotes from School District Employees’
“In reading class, I think I can easily give examples which are related to life and let my students see the connections to their own lives.”
“Watching students learn based on something new I learned and taught is great.”
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Participants’ Use of Knowledge and Skills
Review of Literature “The best professional development helps teachers to think
critically about their practice; to develop new instructional strategies, along with new techniques for creating curriculum and assessments; and to measure how new practices have affected student learning” (Kelleher, 2003, p.751).
Trainers in the business world have struggled for decades to solve the transfer problem: getting people who have demonstrated that they understand learning to actually apply what they have learned on the job (Salopek, 2006).
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Overall Effectiveness
Effectiveness Number Mean S.D. t Sig. (2-tailed)
Public School District
444 76.70 14.91 3.600* .000
Private Corporation
296 73.19 9.36
* Significant at p ≤ 0.05
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IX. Analysis of Data
Qualitative
Questionnaire & Interviews
Responses
NVivoSoftware
was used for coding
Frequency andpercentages were calculated & listed
in descending order
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Qualitative Research Question
5. What are the differences in how the evaluation of participants’ learning outcomes is determined between the corporate sector and public education as measured by Guskey’s model?
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Open Ended Questions used to answer Research Question 5
1. In what ways have your professional development training impacted your work performance?
2. In what ways have your professional development training affected your attitude about learning new things?
3. In what ways have your professional development training enhanced your skills or behaviors?
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1. In what ways have your professional development training impacted your work performance?
Emergent Themes Private Corporations
Freq. Percent
Public School District
Freq. Percent
Learned skills essential to job
30 14.8 62 17.3
Increased productivity/efficiency
24 11.8 68 19.0
Learned something new
22 10.8 36 10.0
Familiar with better techniques
20 9.8 54 15.1
Improved Human Relation
19 9.3 7 2.0
Minimal or no impact 18 8.9 42 11.7
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Corporate Employees’ Response from Questionnaire
“Positive impact – understanding of how my behavior and actions affect others.”
“It has made things a little better in terms of dealing with people.”
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Corporate Employees’ Response from Questionnaire
“I have learned how to listen to others and what they are really saying underneath all their blustering to get at the heart of the issue. I used to get defensive and fight back, now I can easily defuse a situation and turn it into a positive experience for everyone.”
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School District Employees’Response from Questionnaire
“It has increased my productivity and ability to reach my students.”
“It depends on how it relates to what I teach. If related directly, then it has a greater impact.”
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School District Employees’Response from Questionnaire
“It has improved my performance because I get new ideas to use in my class.”
“If I have a choice in what training I take, it has a more positive effect on how I teach my students.”
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Interviews:Corporate Managers
“It’s not being done, right now it’s left up to the individual to use the skills they have learned.”
“Leadership development for one management style is based on their personal desire.”
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Interviews:Educational Administrators
“All professional development requirements focus on students’ success of learning.”
“The goal of the district which is “student achievement”; it’s the overall process used to determine the link between learning and individual/organizational performance.”
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2. In what ways have your professional development training affected your attitude about learning new things?
Emergent Themes Private Corporations
Freq. Percent
Public School District
Freq. Percent
Eager to learn 38 20.8 63 19.9
No or little change 30 16.4 39 12.3
More positive outlook
20 10.9 38 12.3
More open minded 19 10.4 30 9.5
Realized more to learn
12 6.6 20 6.3
Learned new strategies
11 6.0 43 13.6
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Corporate Employees’ Response from Questionnaire
“The non-tech, non-ops training has had a negative affect on my attitude about learning new things as trained by my company, but I still retain a strong interest in learning new things through self-directed study.”
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School District Employees’Response from Questionnaire
“It has enhanced my attitude. I understand the importance of professional development and its profound impact on my teaching.”
“I enjoy attending training because I always want to learn about new strategies that may be better for my students. I always experiment with the new strategies learned.”
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Interviews:Corporate Managers
“ It’s not evaluated. Managers need to be more proactive in following up with employees to ensure the training received is beneficial towards individual and group growth. Employees are more in control of the choices they make as far as training. Management has always been reactive.”
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Interviews:Corporate Managers
“Goals of the employees’ is how we evaluate training. The employee set [their personal goals] that they want to achieve. Training & Development offers a list of courses and we simply pick what’s out there.”
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Interviews:Educational Administrators
“Surveys are used. Negative comments are taken seriously and look[ed] into to see what could be done differently. Because everyone has a say into the development service they receive, attitudes are changing in a positive way. Learning is becoming a district wide attitude.”
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3. In what ways have your professional development training enhanced your skills or behaviors?
Emergent Themes Private Corporation
Freq. Percent
Public School District
Freq. Percent
Learned rudiments of job
42 20.8 65 19.2
No significant change 23 11.4 54 16.0
Increased productivity/efficiency
17 8.4 76 22.5
Enhanced leadership skills
12 5.9 18 5.3
Saw new perspectives 12 5.9 45 13.3
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Corporate Employees’ Response from Questionnaire
“It gives you a greater appreciation for those who you work with. I know that to stay competitive in the job market it is necessary to continually increase ones knowledge in all the areas that make the corporation run.”
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School District Employees’Response from Questionnaire
“Every now and again I am able to attend a training session that I’ve selected to meet specific needs and usually those impact my skills and behaviors positively.”
“It has enhanced my classroom management behavior. I learned skills to teach math and science better.”
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Interviews:Corporate Managers
“No one from the training and development department has ever contacted our department to see how best they can serve us. As manager, I’m given a budget from my manager; then I divide the money amongst the employees. I give more money to those employees that are on a Leadership Development Plan.”
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InterviewsCorporate Manager
“There’s no training available for employees who are not interested in management. Training and Development offers a list of courses and we simply pick what’s out there. No follow up by the training and development department to see how they can enhance the skills of our employees.”
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InterviewsEducational Administrator
“With the new direction of the professional development service department, everyone has a say in the type of development training they need. Part of the service contract we have with the professional development department is the evaluation of service they provide at different levels. Constant online surveys are given to see how the participants’ are using the material taught to them and to see what didn’t work and what needs to change.”
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Participants’ Learning OutcomesReview of Literature
Lowden (2003) noted that supervisors should be able to observe participants utilizing the new knowledge and skills that they gained as a result of their own professional growth.
Miller (2006) used Guskey’s model in her research and found that the success of student learning outcomes came from teachers and mentors coming together on a regular basis with the primary consultant and discussing what they needed to do to improve student learning.
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Guskey’s ModelReview of Literature
Why is evaluation important? Guskey (2000) stated four reasons why evaluation
is important:
(a) Professional development is an ongoing and continuous process, not an event;
(b) It is a systematic effort to bring about change; (c) There is a need for better information to guide
reforms; and (d) There is increased pressure at all levels of
education for greater accountability.
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Review of Literature On Evaluation
Both the private sector and public education organizations have to justify money being spent on performance improvement training of their employees. (Blanchard & Thacker, 2007; Guskey, 2000; Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2005; Parry, 1997)
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Review of Literature
Blanchard and Thacker (2007) stated training managers come up with many reasons for not evaluating training, some of the reasons are:
There’s nothing to evaluate.
No one really cares about it. (The most common rationale for not conducting training evaluations is that formal evaluation procedures are too expensive and time consuming)
Evaluation is a threat to my job. (Managers fear the result of an evaluation will show failure of their program which will affect their careers).
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XI. Conclusion
Quantitative data collected from the online PDAT instrument revealed that public school district employees’ rated their professional development training higher than the corporate employees’ in all critical areas except organizational support .
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Conclusion
It can be concluded that the reason the public school district in this study faired better than the private corporation was due to the use of an evaluation model.
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Kandola (2000) stated: “Given the enormous amount of training carried out each year and, consequently the enormous amount of money spent on it, it is surprising to find how little evaluation is carried out. Or is it?” (p.30)
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XII. Recommendations
Organizations must move away from the one shot evaluation process, better known as participants’ reactions level. Data obtained through this study confirms that participants’ reactions should be considered during the planning process but not as a driver for evaluating the overall success of a program.
In developing a training program, it is important to discover the needs of your customers. Implementation is the key for evaluating participants’ learning.
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Recommendations
Participants’ learning outcomes must be the beginning stage of the planning process.
Organizations must develop training programs that are designed with the outcome in mind. Objectives must be clear from the beginning. Evaluation of how those objectives must be met should be established with the objectives.
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Recommendations
Organizational support is important for implementation of new knowledge and skills learned. Allowing all participants an active voice in the planning process will ensure the effectiveness of the program.
Organizations should invest in an evaluation process to account for the dollars being spent on employees.
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XIII.Recommendations for Further Study
(Public Education) A study should be conducted to explore the
professional development differences between educational leaders across school districts.
A study should be conducted to explore the professional development programs among school districts; one using an evaluative model and non-evaluative models.
A statewide study should be conducted in education using Guskey’s model to determine the overall effectiveness of state mandated professional development programs.
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Recommendations For Further Study(Public Education)
A study should be conducted using a different evaluation model to see if the results are similar.
A study should be conducted between rural school districts and urban school districts using Guskey’s model.
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Recommendations for Further Study(Corporations)
A study should be conducted examining the correlation between revenue and program effectiveness.
A study should be conducted to explore the differences in training and development programs among Fortune 500 corporations utilizing personal goals versus corporate goals.
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Recommendations for Further Study(Corporations)
A study should be conducted to see if corporate employees’ are active participants in the planning stage of professional development training verses those that are not active participants.
A study should be conducted to see if corporate managers are allowed to observe participants utilizing the new knowledge and skills learned that they gained as a result of their own professional growth.
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Differences in Professional Development Training
Between One Corporation and One Large Texas Public
School District
A Dissertation DefenseBy
Yolanda E. Smith