Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to survey the effect of teachers' in-service and pre-service training on students' academic achievement. In an effort to do so, three private religious schools were surveyed and a total of 49 math and science teachers have responded. The students' test scores of five math and science exams from each classroom were obtained, the averages of the grades were calculated and then teachers were compared according to averages of their students' grades against teachers' pre-service and number of in-service training attendance. The study revealed that marginal in-service training has no statistically or academically significant effect on students' math and science achievement, suggesting that modest participation in in-service training - average of two sessions per year, are not sufficient to make a difference or to increase the students' achievement. On the other hand, however, we cannot conclude that these students of the surveyed schools have low academic achievement, because these schools are reputable schools and have high criteria for selecting their teaching staff, whereby teachers have to have BS degrees and teaching diplomas to be eligible to teach math and sciences. Also, these schools have shown that they have had yearly 99-100% success rates in national exams.
