A critical review and meta-analysis of studies investigating the effects of the professional development teachers typically receive

In this review, we map and summarize studies examining the effects of teachers’ participation in professional development (PD) on teaching practices and student achievement based on nationally representative datasets, reflecting both the teacher population and the PD they typically receive. We also critically assess the statistical approaches used in these studies to evaluate the credibility and robustness of their findings. The reviewed studies demonstrate that large-scale datasets (e.g., TIMSS and NAEP) offer valuable opportunities to study PD in representative settings. However, only a minority of the studies adequately address the methodological challenges associated with these datasets. As a result, while our meta-analysis indicates that PD participation correlates with teaching practices and student achievement, we caution against interpreting these results as causal due to methodological limitations in most of the reviewed studies. Finally, we propose strategies for future research to produce more credible results.