TDNet Discover

The purpose of this quantitative study was to analyze the impact of online versus in-person professional development (PD) for educators on student achievement by comparing students' test scores in English language arts (ELA), math, and science. Through understanding, policymakers and school administrators are better poised to make informed decisions regarding the investment of educational dollars in continuous professional learning. The instrument utilized in this study was state testing data, Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), for grades 3-8. This instrument tests students’ proficiency in ELA, math, and science. The scope of this study included data from the Cedar Mesa School District (pseudonym) for the 2023-2024 academic school year of its virtual academy, which executed its PD online, and one in-person campus, which conducted its PD on site. The data set analyzed comprised more than 2,600 students and showed the proficiency rate for the students in three subject areas. Normality, homogeneity, and independence of observation was tested prior to completing the statistical analysis to certify that the data was normally distributed, was equally varied, and was independent of each other, containing no patterns. After proceeding with the t-test in Microsoft Excel, a p-value was generated for each subject area using the subgroup (race) proficiency percentages. Based on the p-values being greater than 0.05, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis in ELA, math, and science. The data did not provide the evidence necessary to identify a significant difference in achievement scores from students whose educators either received PD online or in-person. However, the data did not show a significant difference in student achievement whose educators had received PD either in-person or online, it did highlight the need for additional testing using individual student data in order to be able to fully examine the effects the mode of PD educators receive has on students' achievement.