Developing Measures of Effective Mathematics TeachingOVERVIEW:
Developing Measures of Effective Mathematics Teaching is the core study of NCTE. The objective of this study is to identify practices and characteristics that distinguish between more and less effective teachers. This information will be used to develop a suite of empirically validated and practical instruments that can be used by school districts to identify, recruit, develop, and retain more effective teachers.
GOALS:
To unify three disparate strands of research: “value added” modeling, the direct study of mathematics instruction, and non-instructional predictors of teacher effectiveness.
Develop an empirically-driven composite measure of teacher effectiveness.
Operationalize the measures to ensure they are usable in the field.
Externally validate the estimated differences in teacher effectiveness.
RESEARCH METHODS:
In the fall of 2010, NCTE commenced three years of data collection and observations of math instruction across approximately 50 schools and 200 classrooms, respectively. Data will be collected from several sources, including multiple classroom observations, student assessment data, and teacher surveys to accurately capture how teachers impact student achievement.
Data Collection:
Video observations of math instruction (in classroom, length of math lesson)
three video observations per year
coding of practices along multiple rubrics
Survey of teacher characteristics and measures of teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching (take home, 60 min.)
Student engagement surveys (in classroom, 10 min.)
captures interest and effort in math, interaction with their teachers, and attitudes and behaviors in school
Supplemental measures of student achievement (in classroom, 60 min.)
focus on a handful of math concepts that are fundamental to progressing in mathematics in these grade levels.
School Eligibility Requirements: In order to be eligible to participate in the study, schools must have at least two teachers of math in grade 4 and/or two teachers of math in grade 5. The school principal and teachers must also agree to have teachers assigned to classes in year 3 (2012-13) through the following process:
The principal/teachers will draw up classroom rosters as usual
Working with NCTE staff, the principal will assign participating teachers to classes (or math class rosters) in their grade by lottery.
