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Abstract
Given the culture of accountability in the current educational context, school leaders continue to seek effective strategies that will improve the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom. Professional development is often viewed as a strategy that can positively influence teacher performance. Despite the best efforts to design professional development that will facilitate change in teachers' practice, the structures most commonly used for professional development, school leaders are unable to determine the return on investment due to a lack of evidence that new learning transferred into classroom practice. This action research case study sought to inform the use of evidence-based professional development design to produce measurable change in teacher practice at an elementary school in a large urban school district. The following research questions guided this study: 1. How do teachers perceive professional development opportunities at WES? 2. What impact does an evidence-based professional development framework have on the transfer of new learning to classroom practice? 3. What does an Action Research team learn as they work to design sustainable, evidence-based professional development experiences that meet state reporting requirements?In order to examine the research questions, a dual-role researcher led an action research team through the creation, implementation, and evaluation of an evidence-based professional development framework to measure its impact on learning transfer into classroom practice. Findings indicate that an evidence-based professional development framework can have a positive impact on learning transfer into classroom practice when it is designed with the end in mind and planned to facilitate the collection of evidence.