Impacts of Place-Based Professional Development on Teachers

The qualitative case study investigated the relationship between high-quality professional development for place-based education and long-term impacts on teacher practices. The case study focused on a small subset of teachers who attended all four years of the PLACE (Place-based Learning and Civic Engagement) program from 2011-2014. This study was built off a previous program evaluation of PLACE. The purpose of this research study was to evaluate the PLACE professional development's long-term impact on teachers' perceptions and practices and the teachers' implementation of place-based education. The data collection methods for this study involved interviews, observations, and surveys. Based on the data collected from the small sample of teachers, the evidence suggested that the program impacted the teachers' practices to various degrees and their implementation of place-based education varied by teachers. The results identified the continuous, experiential, and collaborative structure of the PLACE program as factors for the program's long-term impact on teaching practices. Recommendations and limitations are included.