How to implement and maintain an environment of change in schools is a complex issue.
Many attempts at reform have been implemented. New curricular materials are introduced, new professional development training is implemented, and new programs rotate through schools like a revolving door. Yet there is little evidence that any of these approaches has real impact on student learning.
The one factor that has proven a consistent variable in improved student learning is the teacher. Practicing teachers continue to learn about teaching in many ways. According to How People Learn (NRC, 2000) Teachers gain new knowledge and understanding of their students, schools, curriculum, and instructional methods by living the practical experiments that occur as a part of professional practice and teachers learn from their own practice through different types of teacher research.
Second, teachers learn through their interactions with other teachers through formal and informal mentoring that is similar to apprenticeship learning. The literature does not support the idea that teachers learn through meetings and in-service training. The informal and formal development of teacher learning through practice, combined with research should improve teachers understanding of their work which directly impacts student learning. However, these teachers can not work in isolation.
Developing a critical mass of these professionals in schools, not one or two scattered throughout a district, is important to school change. The cultural peer influence in schools creates or destroys the learning environment. Educational research must become an active component of the teacher professional development model with shared responsibility among all involved.
When teachers are trained in research skills they develop a more objective view of their work and their student’s progress. Research into learning engages teachers in their work and promotes an intellectual investment in the art of teaching.
The RPLs differ from other school projects because the research develops from the emerging faculty interest along with teacher initiatives. So different stages of involvement and research are possible in these schools. The projects may last one year, like in the Henderson Model or be on-going for many years, like the Wiggs Model.