Visit the National Academies Press online and register for

Educating the Student Body
FIGURE 5-1
Logic model of the impact of professional development on student achievement.
Figure 5-1.eps
Standards, Curricula, Accountability, Assessments 
Professional
Development
Student
Achievement
Teacher Knowledge
and
Skills
Classroom
Teaching
Cohen, 1999; Cohen and Hill, 2000). Through a variety of delivery meth-
ods, professional development activities may include credit or noncredit 
courses, classroom or online venues, workshops, seminars, teleconferences, 
and webinars, with the ultimate goal of improving the delivery of instruc-
tion to enhance student achievement.
Yoon and colleagues (2007) assert that a strong link exists among pro-
fessional development, teacher learning and practice, and student achieve-
ment. Figure 5-1, which aligns with the research on effective professional 
development (Kennedy, 1998; Loucks-Horsley and Matsumoto, 1999; 
Cohen and Hill, 2000; Garet et al., 2001; Fishman et al., 2003; Guskey 
and Sparks, 2004), illustrates how (1) professional development enhances 
teacher knowledge and skills, (2) better knowledge and skills improve 
classroom teaching, and (3) improved teaching raises student achievement.
The most impactful statement of government policy on the preparation 
and professional development of teachers was the 2002 reauthorization of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Whitehurst, 2002), known 
as the No Child Left Behind Act. While Title I of the act places highly quali-
fied teachers in the classroom, Title II addresses the same goal by funding 
professional development for teachers. The importance of quality profes-
sional development is well documented in the act. 
Professional development, according to the No Child Left Behind Act, 
should be offered to improve teachers’ knowledge of the subject matter they 
teach, strengthen their classroom management skills, advance their under-
standing and implementation of effective teaching strategies, and build their 
capabilities to address disparities in education. The act states that high-
quality professional development programs should have the characteristics 
listed in Box 5-9. 
Although there is a substantial literature on professional develop-
ment, only a few high-quality studies relate teachers’ professional devel-
opment experiences to student outcomes. Recommendations for high-
quality professional development tend to emphasize the importance of 

---

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
Approaches to Physical Education in Schools
 
231