PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Cilliers, Jacobus
AU  - Fleisch, Brahm
AU  - Prinsloo, Cas
AU  - Taylor, Stephen
TI  - How to Improve Teaching Practice?
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.55.3.0618-9538R1
DP  - 2020 Jul 01
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 926--962
VI  - 55
IP  - 3
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/55/3/926.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/55/3/926.full
SO  - J Hum Resour2020 Jul 01; 55
AB  - We experimentally compare two modes of in-service professional development for South African public primary school teachers. In both modes teachers received the same learning materials and daily lesson plans, aligned to the official literacy curriculum. Students exposed to two years of the program improved their reading proficiency by 0.12 standard deviations if their teachers received centralized training, compared to 0.24 if their teachers received in-class coaching. Classroom observations reveal that teachers were more likely to split students into smaller reading groups, which enabled individualized attention and more opportunities to practice reading. Results vary by class size and baseline student reading proficiency.