IMPROVING MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT ACROSS A HIGH POVERTY INNER CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT (original) (raw)

Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, Vol 3, No 2 (2010)

Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 2010

In this article, the authors explore learning about equity pedagogy in mathematics by focusing on the experiences of a teacher and teacher educator within the Centering the Teaching of Mathematics on Urban Youth project. One teacher's story is interwoven as a counterpoint and specific trajectory within the broader narrative provided by the teacher educator. Key themes addressed include the nature of teaching mathematics, identity and position, and developing culturally relevant mathematics pedagogy. The authors' goal is not to report on the effects of a mathematics teacher professional development program per se, but rather to open the conversation, between teacher and teacher educator, to a broader audience.

Impact at the student level: a study of the effects of a teacher development intervention on students' mathematical thinking

The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 2000

This research was conducted to study the impact on students of a long-term professional development intervention in mathematics for teachers in a low-wealth, urban school district. The emphasis in this assessment design was on obtaining a more accurate picture of student's problemsolving performance which challenged us to raise our expectations about student success from improved standardized test score data to an approach that focused on the way students think about mathematical tasks. The design used in this assessment provides a framework for considering teacher development and student assessment simultaneously. Results show that students taught by project teachers performed better in both classroom problem-solving activities and task-based interviews than students taught by nonproject teachers. In addition, there were major differences in the problem-solving behaviors of the two groups. Experimental students (students of project teachers) displayed greater mathematical confidence, and were more likely to see mathematics as a powerful way of thinking about the real world and approach mathematics as such. D

Addressing the Principles for School Mathematics: a Case Study of Elementary Teachers’ Pedagogy and Practices in an Urban High-Poverty School

International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education

The extent to which four novice teachers assigned to an urban high-poverty school implemented the Principles of School Mathematics during their mathematics instruction program was investigated using a case study design. The research team conducted 36 unannounced observations of the participating teachers and utilized a developed assessment to guide their observations. Results indicated that only one teacher was judged proficient for all the Principles. The remaining three teachers fell short in the implementation and direction of the Principles. Detailed descriptions of the pedagogical practices of the teachers are provided.

A large-scale PD intervention for improvement of teachers’ mathematical knowledge in disadvantaged communities

2019

Central to the conference theme "Research Impacting Practice", this paper presents the findings of a large-scale mathematics professional development (PD) intervention in disadvantaged communities in Indonesia. The study investigated the impact of a lesson design-driven PD on secondary mathematics teachers' content knowledge (CK). The Cascade Model was implemented in ten districts and involved 364 teachers. The PD workshops, needs analysis, scripted lesson designs and monitoring mechanisms inherent in the PD model, significantly increased teachers' CK. The findings gathered over a period of approximately one year further our understanding of the process of large-scale PD in challenging contexts.

Teacher Mathematics Learning and Middle School Student Achievement

2010

United States policymakers have taken measures to improve learning for all students emphasizing the use of scientifically based research in choosing educational programs to promote school improvement and student learning. However, educators, researchers and policymakers debate about which factors are most important in affecting student achievement. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) places major emphasis upon teacher quality as a factor in improving achievement for all students. This emphasis grows out of research showing that teachers' mastery of the academic content they teach is critical to engaging students and is a significant factor in raising levels of student achievement. Middle or secondary school teachers must possess the equivalent of an academic major in the core academic area (107th U.S. Congress, 2002). To meet this need, a key goal of the Cleveland MSP was to increase middle school teacher content knowledge in mathematics through teacher participation in ...

Teachers attending to students’ mathematical reasoning: lessons from an after-school research program

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 2010

There is a documented need for more opportunities for teachers to learn about students' mathematical reasoning. This article reports on the experiences of a group of elementary and middle school mathematics teachers who participated as interns in an afterschool, classroom-based research project on the development of mathematical ideas involving middle-grade students from an urban, low-income, minority community in the United States. For 1 year, the teachers observed the students working on well-defined mathematical investigations that provided a context for the students' formation of particular mathematical ideas and different forms of reasoning in several mathematical content strands. The article describes insights into students' mathematical reasoning that the teachers were able to gain from their observations of the students' mathematical activity. The purpose is to show that teachers' observations of students' mathematical activity in research sessions on students' development of mathematical ideas can provide opportunities for teachers to learn about students' mathematical reasoning.

Developing Mathematical Thinking: Changing Teachers’ Knowledge and Instruction

Journal of Curriculum and Teaching, 2013

In the present research, we evaluated the effectiveness of a multi-year professional development program in mathematics for elementary teachers. Each year the program focused on a different domain of mathematics. We found the program increased teachers' knowledge of (a) number and operations, (b) measurement and geometry, and (c) probability and statistics. We also examined the relation between mathematical knowledge and teaching practices. Across the three domains neither pretest nor posttest mathematical knowledge were related to classroom teaching practices. However, change in knowledge was positively related to six different dimensions of teaching practice for number and operations, and for measurement and geometry; and was positively related to four or six dimensions for probability and statistics. That is, those teachers with greater changes in knowledge demonstrated more effective instruction.