Presenter: Joan Pasley
All teachers need opportunities for professional growth which are designed and implemented based on the best evidence available on how to support high-quality teaching and learning for all students. This session highlights what is known about effective professional development, considering both research findings and practice-based insights. Participants will engage with a “policy inventory,” considering what aspects of their current infrastructure are supportive of effective STEM teaching and learning, and priority areas for improvement.
About the Presenter:
Joan Pasley, Senior Research Associate, Horizon Research, Inc.
Joan Pasley has been working with Horizon since 1994 on a number of research and evaluation projects, including the evaluation of the Ohio, South Carolina, and New Jersey Statewide Systemic Initiatives, and the standardized evaluation system for NSF’s Local Systemic Change through Teacher Enhancement project. Pasley has conducted numerous sessions designed to facilitate the application of research for practitioners at different levels of the system (e.g., state mathematics and science supervisors, leaders of state MSPs, district supervisors and policy makers, principals, and teachers). She has served as the principal investigator of the MSP Knowledge Management and Dissemination project and directs the evaluations of Cyber-enabled Learning project, which is conducting research on how teachers can be supported to effectively use information and communications technologies in instruction, and the Partnership for Systemic Reform, a partnership between the Merck Institute for Science Education and six school districts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In addition to teaching science at the high school level, Pasley served as a high school administrator in an urban school district where she gained experience in curriculum development, assessment, and instructional evaluation. Pasley received a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Cincinnati, a master’s degree in educational Administration from Xavier University, and a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has had extensive coursework in educational evaluation and curriculum theory and analysis. Pasley has co-authored a number of publications focused on supporting high-quality STEM instruction, including the book, Mathematics and Science for a Change: How to Design, Implement, and Sustain High-quality Professional Development (Weiss & Pasley, 2009).
