  Providing high-quality professional development for teachers with diverse
backgrounds and classroom experience is a challenging task. In this work, we
investigate the Illinois Physics and Secondary Schools (IPaSS) partnership
program, which provides instructional resources and a network of support for
high school physics teachers through a partnership with the University of
Illinois. IPaSS aims to address disparities in physics instruction by equipping
teachers with university physics curricula and equipment adapted to fit the
context of their high school classrooms. IPaSS' professional development design
and facilitation draw inspiration from the Communities of Practice (CoP) model
with a responsive facilitative approach in the design and enactment of
professional development. Using interviews and surveys from 14 physics
teachers, we studied the extent to which the program has responded to teachers'
diverse needs while supporting their participation in physics teaching CoP. The
results revealed that this model of responsive professional development --
conceptualized as being attentive and adaptive to teachers' needs -- has
created very positive perceptions of the program for the teachers involved and
fostered pedagogical and instructional support, professional growth
opportunities, and social or personal benefits of community involvement for
them. The results also demonstrated that mutual peer support has gone beyond
the dynamics of the Communities of Practice framework, not only from more to
less experienced but also in the reverse direction. In addition, the case study
of the program revealed that taking a responsive approach can potentially
facilitate teachers' transitions from being peripheral members to becoming
active participants in the community.
