Long-term Effects of a Staff Development Programme on Effective Instruction and Classroom Management for Teachers in Multigrade Classes

This study describes the long-term effects of a staff development programme based on selected findings from teaching effectiveness research in schools with multigrade or mixed-age classes. The short-term effects of this programme were examined in two studies directed at schools with multigrade classes. The first improvement study was conducted in the school year 1986/87; the second improvement study was conducted in 1989/90. In the latter study, the effects of coaching in addition to participation in the staff development programme were also evaluated. In the school year 1992/93, a retention or follow-up study was conducted. A quasi-experimental, treatment-control group design was used to test the long-term effects of the programme 'Dealing with multigrade classes' and the effects of coaching. Based on pre- and post-training classroom observations, the follow-up study revealed a significant treatment effect for the time-on-task levels of the pupils in the multigrade classes and for the instructional and classroom management skills of the teachers. No significant differences were found between the coached and uncoached teachers and between the teachers who followed the programme either 2 or 5 years ago. No significant differences were found between the post-test and the retention test. This suggests that the training results were quite stable. No indication of further growth in the executive control of the selected instructional and classroom management skills was found. No significant differences in achievement were found between the pupils in classes with trained teachers and the pupils in classes with untrained teachers.